The higher education department has asked government and government-aided colleges to fill vacant undergraduate seats on their own.

Close to four lakh seats are expected to remain vacant after the completion of the centralised online admission process conducted by the department.

The admission process will end on September 7.

The department said in an order issued on Thursday: “The undergraduate admission in general degree colleges for the academic year 2024-25 through the centralized admission portal will end on 07.09.2024 after the completion of two phases. To fill up the vacant seats (if any) in the higher education institutions, the competent authority in the state government decided that the individual institutions in online stand-alone mode will conduct the admission process after 07.09.2024.”

The department launched the centralised admission system on June 24 over a month-and-a-half after the publication of Class-II board results.

By then the autonomous and minority institutions outside the purview of the portal had already screened the applications they received.

Until last year, colleges enrolled students through their stand-alone portals.

One of the reasons behind the launch of the centralized portal was to ensure that fewer seats remained vacant.

An official of the department said as the issue of vacancy will persist after the completion of phase II, they have decided to ask colleges to fill seats on their own.

The notice says: “It is advised that the entire process of admission at the UG level should be positively completed by 30th September 2024.”

The department started receiving applications through its online portal on June 24 for 461 colleges and 16 state-aided universities offering 7,217 courses for a little over 9 lakh seats.

Sources in the department said till Wednesday 4.08 lakh candidates had taken
admission.

Physical verification of the candidates who got admission at the respective institutions after the mop-up round (phase II) will continue from September 3 to 7.

“We expect at least 4 lakh seats to remain vacant after the completion of the second phase,” a senior official of the department said.

Manas Kabi, the principal of Asutosh College, said out of 3,100 seats 1,800 seats don’t have any takers so far.

Siuli Sarkar, the principal of Lady Brabourne College, said out of 700 seats, almost 50 per cent seats are vacant.

The scenario is not likely to change much and a delayed start of the admission process was one of the reasons behind the poor enrolment, many college principals said.

“Much before the launch of the centralised portal, minority colleges like the Scottish Church College, and Loreto College started receiving applications. Once a candidate takes admission into a college, it is unlikely that he or she will cancel the admission and enrol elsewhere afresh. The early start of classes matters a lot for any student,” said principal Sarkar.

Scottish Church College started receiving applications on May 9, a day after the state higher secondary council published the plus-II board results.

Asutosh College principal Kabi said: “Most of the seats have remained vacant in the science streams. Those who took admission after the first round have been attending classes from August 7. Now we are worried about how we will complete the syllabus for those to take admission after September 7. What will they write in their first-semester examination likely to be held in January?”

Joydeep Sarangi, the principal of New Alipore College, said: “CU (Calcutta University) should defer the semester examinations so the new students get time to prepare.”