Kolkata: The state Higher Education department has directed all universities under its aegis and colleges affiliated to these universities that admission process in undergraduate level for the 2019-20 academic session will be conducted entirely online. Students need not come to colleges during the admission process and will have to report directly on the day of commencement of classes.
"We are going for online admission which will be merit-based. This will ensure transparency and students will not face any harassment during the admission process. They should not be called on campus during admission and communication with college authorities, if needed, will be through e-mail. Students will report to colleges only when the classes start," said R S Shukla, Additional Chief Secretary of the state Higher Education department.
Shukla, however, made it clear that colleges will do physical verification of documents when classes start and if they are found to be not authentic then the concerned student's admission is liable to be cancelled.
State Education minister Partha Chatterjee chaired a meeting with vice-chancellors and principals of colleges on Monday at a private university based in New Town and informed them about the modalities of admission in the undergraduate level.
The admission process will start soon after the results of the Higher Secondary Examination on May 27. It may be mentioned that CBSE Class XII and ISC results have already been published.
Student unions will not be allowed to set up any help desk in colleges and the administrative process will be entirely under the supervision of the college authorities.
"We have already issued clear-cut guidelines about the admission. Today (Monday) we convened the meeting to clear any confusion. Instructions regarding admission have also been sent to the District Magistrates across the state," a senior official of the Higher Education department said.
It may be recalled that last year, there were allegations of extortion on the part of students' unions in some colleges for admitting students. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself had to intervene to resolve the issue.
She had reiterated that if someone is found asking for money for personal interest in lieu of granting admission, stern action will be taken against him/her. Members of students' unions in some colleges were also arrested by the police after Banerjee's intervention.
The state Higher Education department had issued a notification directing all colleges that counselling for admission to undergraduate courses must be done strictly
online and physical verification of documents, if required, can be done only after the commencement of classes.
It may be mentioned that it was former Education minister Bratya Basu, who had mooted the idea of online admission for the first time.