U-G admissions: Colleges witness mixed response

Kolkata: The colleges in the city have had a mixed response when it comes to admissions in the Under-Graduate courses. Some colleges that have had a reasonable seat occupancy are still apprehending that a section of students may migrate with the admission in Jadavpur University still continuing while some others have been left with a good number of vacant seats.

The last date for seeking fresh applications in the UG courses as per notification of the State Higher Education department has come to an end on October 30 and till date, there has been no directive of extension of dates.

Bethune College, having a total of 557 seats in Arts and Science, has filled up 519 which is 96 percent. "There are some subjects like Sanskrit, Hindi where there are vacant seats every year. The same trend has been witnessed this year too. Sanskrit still has 22 vacant seats," said Krishna Roy, principal.

However, Roy made it clear that they cannot be complacent owing to the fact that the admission process in JU is still on. "We cannot rule out chances of migration particularly to JU," she added.

Siuli Sarkar of Lady Brabourne College also shared similar apprehensions. "It has been witnessed that students prefer to study in universities rather than colleges. So if students who have sought admission find their names in the list published by JU, they may migrate," she added. More than 95 percent of the 700-odd seats of Lady Brabourne College have been filled up.

Suvasish Datta, principal of Maulana Azad College also expressed satisfaction over admission in his college with a majority of its 700 seats already filled up but did not rule out migration.

Some other colleges including Ashutosh and Basanti Devi have a different story to tell.

Ashutosh College has over 800 of its 2700 seats still lying vacant. "Parents are preferring that their wards should study in colleges that are in close proximity to their respective residences amidst the pandemic situation. So, there has been a lot of vacant seats this year," said Apurba Ray, vice-principal of Ashutosh College.

The seats may be filled up only if the state government further extends the dates of admission.

"40 to 50 percent of our seats are vacant," said Indrila Guha, principal of Basanti Devi College.