Female candidates outnumber males in the number of applicants to West Bengal's central undergraduate courses admission portal, a higher education department official said on Monday.

The portal which was opened on June 24 for admission to seats in 461 colleges and 16 universities closed on July 6 midnight.

The portal was launched for the first time this year by the higher education department.

"Of 5,27,673 applicants which were validated after scrutiny, 2,99,800 were women," the higher education department official told PTI on Monday.

The official said there were 50 applicants from 'others' category.

The 'others' in the parlance belong to the LGBTQ+ community, he said.

Altogether 34,64,918 applications were filed with 98,089 coming from outside Bengal.

Welcoming the trend as an encouraging sign, the Principal of Lady Brabourne College Siuli Sarkar told PTI, "It has been a trend in recent times that more girls are opting for higher education." However, another factor is the mindset of guardians which is of the view that boys should enrol in technical science-oriented disciplines in higher educational institutions while girls should opt for general stream, she added.

Despite such traditional mindset, the girls are increasingly taking it as a challenge to excel in their fields in general stream and carve their identity, Sarkar felt.

To another question, she said around 15,000 girls have applied for UG courses under various streams in Lady Brabourne College.

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