Centralised admission likely at UG level from this academic session

KOLKATA: The state Higher Education department is optimistic of conducting centralised admission in undergraduate level right from this academic year. State Education minister Bratya Basu on Thursday chaired a meeting with the vice chancellors of the universities across the state to assess the latter's preparedness in this regard.

"We have received positive response from the V-Cs and we are hopeful of starting centralised admission from this academic year. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already given her approval in this regard as this will usher in more transparency in the admission procedure," Basu said after the meeting at Bikash Bhavan.The V-C's in Kolkata-based universities attended in physical mode while those from the districts were present virtually. There will be a centralised portal which will be controlled by the Higher Education Council. The preparation of the portal is in its final stages, according to sources in the department. Jadavpur University, departments of Fine Arts and Visual Arts of Rabindra Bharati University, St Xavier's College (Autonomous), Ramkrishna Mission will, however, not come under this ambit. The Presidency University has not yet decided whether they will be following centralised admission mode or not and will communicate their stand to the Education department soon.

The admission will be strictly on the basis of merit and there will be plenty of options of colleges. However, the cut off marks for subjects will be different for the respective colleges.The results for Madhyamik will be published on June 3 and it is expected that higher secondary results will be published in mid June.

The college admissions will start after the HS results are out. Till date, online admission has been done by the college authorities. Since the past few years, West Bengal University of Teachers' Training, Education Planning and Administration popularly known as BEd University has been conducting centralised admission for filling seats in BEd colleges across the state.