There are 158 general degree colleges under Calcutta University.
Only 1,300 out of 2,200 seats at Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College have been filled so far.
On Tuesday, the first semester classes at the undergraduate level began in West Bengal. However, despite the numerous times that institutions affiliated with Calcutta University opened their websites, the admission rate seemed very low compared to previous years. This gives rise to the obvious question- are students who have passed higher secondary turning away from undergraduate courses?
According to the admission notification from the higher educational institutions, colleges might open the portal at least twice more if there are seats available after the initial round of admissions. However, a lot of college administrators are not sure about how many seats will be filled in that scenario.
According to the National Education Policy, a four-year honours degree programme has been introduced at the state’s undergraduate level as of the current academic year. Additionally, a three-year general multidisciplinary course has begun.
The number of applicants for admission to the three-year general course is higher than for the four-year honours course, as was previously seen. Most of the honours colleges in the first round admitted only a small portion of those few applicants. The admission situation for low-tier universities is particularly bad, compared to top-tier colleges, which have a comparable admittance rate of 60% or more. Calcutta University authorities claim that no college’s admission rate has surpassed 30%. In an almost unbelievable scenario, only 1,300 seats out of 2,200 seats at Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College have been filled so far.
Calcutta University authorities are planning to hold a meeting with the principals to discuss the situation and deduce why the admission rate is so low. Currently, there are 158 general degree colleges under Calcutta University. The university authorities may decide to take steps to fill the remaining vacant seats by the end of this week.
Information about the number of subject-wise seats filled in various colleges is being sought from the principals. Some say that the students are turning their backs because of the lack of job opportunities after completing the general degree course but CU authorities have said that they do not plan on commenting on the reason before the meetings are held.