Kolkata: Jadavpur University on Wednesday scrapped the admission test for Humanities and announced that admission in the undergraduate level will be on the basis of marks secured in Higher Secondary or equivalent examination. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Executive Council (EC), which is the highest decision-making body of the varsity.
"We have reached a consensus in the EC meeting that there will be no admission test for admission in Humanities in the undergraduate level this year. Admission will be on the basis of marks secured by a student in HS or equivalent examination," said Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, registrar of JU.
The emergency EC meeting was held on Wednesday, after differences of opinion cropped up at the faculty council meeting at the varsity on Tuesday, with JU authorities proposing to hold the admission test from July 11 to 14, by roping in external experts.
It may be mentioned that JU had earlier decided to hold admission tests for six subjects of Humanities in the undergraduate level, namely English, Bengali, Political Science, History, Philosophy and Comparative Literature. On June 27, JU had announced admission tests for these subjects and had announced that the final merit list for admission will be prepared on the basis of 50 percent of the total marks secured in HS or equivalent examination and 50 percent of the marks secured in admission test.
JU had earlier announced admission tests from July 3 to 5, but pushed it back to July 11 to 14. In the meantime, the authorities had consulted the state Advocate General to ensure that there is no complication in the admission process.
The members of Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) started an agitation in front of the administrative building at the university and vice-chancellor Suranjan Das and other senior university officials were gheraoed. "The authorities have yielded to the pressure of the state Education department and have scrapped the admission test. We will continue our agitation till withdrawal of the decision, as admission test has been the tradition of this institution," Somashree Roy Chowdury, an AFSU member said.
"The decision is unfortunate. This sudden deviation from a standard pattern of admission is not welcome. We have convened an extended executive committee meeting on Thursday, following which we will announce our next course of action," Keshab Bhattacharjee, president of Jadavpur University Teachers' Association said.