Female candidates outnumber males in no. of applications to admission portal

Kolkata: Female candidates outnumber males in the number of applicants to Bengal’s central undergraduate courses admission portal, a Higher Education department official said on Monday. Recently, Education Minister Bratya Basu said that students are preferring Bengal as their destination for higher education.

Out of 26,22,442 applications received for undergraduate courses offered in state universities and colleges across state through the recently-introduced online admission portal, 87,010 applications were from other states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, amongst others.

“Students from all over India have applied in our Online Admission Portal to pursue UG courses! A total of 87,010 applications have been received from states, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra. Up from Jammu and Kashmir right down to Kerala, students are preferring Bengal as their destination for Higher Education. We welcome them with wide open arms!” minister shared on his ‘X’ handle.

The portal which was opened on June 24 for admission to seats in 461 colleges and 16 universities closed on

July 6 midnight. The portal was launched for the first time this year by the Higher Education department.

“Of 5,27,673 applicants which were validated after scrutiny, 2,99,800 were women,” the Higher Education department official told a news agency on Monday. The official said there were 50 applicants from ‘others’ category. The ‘others’ in the parlance belong to the LGBTQ+ community, he said.

Out of the total application, majority were from Bengal — 25,35,432 —followed by Bihar (31,745), Jharkhand (28,721), Assam (7,504), Uttar Pradesh (4,039), Orissa (3,892), Tripura (3,143), Gujarat (112), Delhi (553) and Chattisgarh (448), amongst others. Welcoming the trend as an encouraging sign, the Principal of Lady Brabourne College Siuli Sarkar told a news agency: “It has been a trend in recent times that more girls are opting for higher education.” However, another factor is the mindset of guardians which is of the view that boys should enrol in technical science-oriented disciplines in higher educational institutions while girls should opt for general stream, she added. Despite such a traditional mindset, the girls are increasingly taking it as a challenge to excel in their fields in the general stream and carve their identity, Sarkar felt.

To another question, she said around 15,000 girls have applied for UG courses under various streams in Lady Brabourne College. After phase one completion, vacancy lists across the state will be published and application for second phase will be accepted from August 8 to August 17. This merit list will be published on August 20 and they will be able to join classes after physical verification which will be held from September 3 to September 7.

There are 461 colleges across the state.With agency inputs