Counselling for admission to Presidency University’s undergraduate courses will begin only after admission to Bengal’s engineering colleges ends, JEE board officials said.

The board has been conducting the admission test and counselling for Presidency since 2015.

A board official said the engineering counselling would continue till July 17 and admissions will close on July 20. “Presidency counselling can only start after July 20,” the official said.

The move will help Presidency lose fewer seats to engineering colleges but it also means that students aspiring to study at the College Street institution will have to wait longer for a berth in a subject of their choice.

The Presidency admission tests were held on June 15 and 16. “It will take around another two weeks to declare the results,” Malayanedu Saha, chairman, West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board, told Metro.

“Counselling for admission to Presidency University’s undergraduate courses will start only after the admission to engineering courses in Bengal ends,” Saha said.

Officials said the state government had advised the JEE board to do so in an attempt to minimise the number of seats remaining vacant.

Last year, too, the Presidency University counselling was held after the end of engineering admissions.

Still, more than 120 seats were vacant at the university till the middle of September.

Some teachers at Presidency are, however, against delay in undergraduate admissions because that would make it difficult for them to complete the syllabus in time and conduct the first semester exams in December.

A board official said it was better to start the Presidency counselling after the end of engineering admissions because in previous years it was found that students usually did not change their mind and move to Presidency after being admitted to a BTech course in an institution of their choice.

“It is, however, not same the other way round. After being allotted a seat, a student does not mind joining a BTech course if he or she is offered a berth in an institution or subject of his or her choice,” the official said.

Students usually don’t want to quit an engineering course because after accepting a seat in a tech programme, he or she has to pay a registration fee of Rs 5,000 and take admission within three days.

Around 18,000 students had written the Presidency admission tests. A large number of them have appeared in the exams for two subjects.