Suspend ‘in-house' subject admission plans, state tells CU

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Kolkata: The state higher education department has instructed Calcutta University to suspend its plans to open admissions for a few 'in-house' undergraduate courses, indicating that the centralised admission portal will start functioning shortly.
Calcutta University made a decision following a faculty council meeting held on May 21 to initiate admission procedures for some 'in-house' UG courses like food and nutrition, human development, and music, leaving OBC criteria aside primarily to avoid legal issues. However, after the decision, the advertisement for admission was not published. Sources said officials from the higher education department told the university to slow down and not start the admission process before the centralised admission portal (CAP) goes live.
A CU official said, "There should be parity between all undergraduate courses run across affiliated colleges and the university. We cannot start classes until the official date is declared by the state higher education department. We are ready to start the admission process any day as we are completely prepared."
Calcutta University's interim vice-chancellor Santa Datta Dey said, "We are more concerned about the undergraduate courses across all our affiliated colleges that have been waiting for the admission process to begin.
We took a decision for our in-house UG courses, but the entire system is stalled due to the OBC-related matter. How long will students wait in this uncertainty? The admission process can begin leaving this reservation-related dispute, and alternative arrangements can be made after the matter is resolved.
"
She also indicated that they were still consulting lawyers to get clear ideas about all legal provisions related to this matter.
All 159 affiliated colleges under CU and other colleges and universities that admit students through the centralised admission portal are still waiting for the portal's commencement date. Rabindra Bharati University conducts UG admissions for fine arts and visual arts on its own, while admissions for other subjects is conducted through the admission portal. RBU has not decided any date for the commencement of admissions.
However, private and autonomous institutions are midway through the process. Colleges like St Xavier's, Scottish Church and Shri Shikshayatan have already closed their admission portals and started publishing merit lists, too. A CU college principal said, "Private colleges are wrapping up their admissions while we are still uncertain about the commencement date. This is a clear sign of a challenge to fill seats this year, too.
At the same time, Bengal will lose bright students as they will not wait for this delay."

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