Nearly 30% UG seats vacant, Higher Edu dept extends admission timeline

Kolkata: Colleges have started reopening their admission portals after the state Higher Education department extended the deadline for online admissions in standalone mode for undergraduate (UG) general degree courses for the 2024-2025 academic year to fill vacant seats.

According to a notification issued by the department on Monday, general degree colleges and unitary universities can reopen the online standalone portal to receive fresh application forms for vacant seats. The last date for completing the admission process is November 30.

The notification stated: “It has been observed that a good number of seats are lying vacant at different General Degree Colleges and Unitary Universities at the UG level.” This observation prompted the decision to extend the timeline.

After the initial UG admission process through the Centralised Admission Portal (CAP) was completed, colleges were instructed to conduct the admission process in standalone mode to fill remaining vacant seats. That process ended on September 30. However, sources indicate that nearly 30 per cent of seats are still vacant across the state.

“Through the CAP, some students had enrolled in distant colleges and now they are seeking colleges closer to their homes. This extension will allow them to reapply,” said a department official.

While colleges are uncertain about how many students will enroll, they have started reopening admission portals. “We opened the portal on Tuesday, but we are not very hopeful about attracting many students at this late stage. Opening the admission portal also requires a significant expenditure and we doubt the number of new admissions will cover this cost,” said Purna Chandra Maity, Principal of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College.

“We are reopening our admission portal following the department’s directive. Many seats in science subjects are vacant in our college,” stated Indrila Guha, Principal of Basanti Devi College at Gariahat. Indranil Kar, Principal of Surendranath College, said: “We will provide a link on our website for interested students. While we don’t know the exact number of admissions, we want to ensure no eligible student is deprived.”