4 days ago
UG admission portal opens at 10 am today to fill 9 lakh seats
Kolkata: The centralised undergraduate admission portal, inaugurated by education minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday, will start receiving applications from 10 am on Wednesday for nine lakh seats across 460 colleges and 17 universities in Bengal.
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Minority and autonomous institutes as well as unitary universities, such as Presidency University and Jadavpur University, are not under the centralised portal. BEd and fine and performing arts courses at Rabindra Bharati University are excluded, too.
Hours before the Calcutta High Court stayed a gazette notification on OBC, including 140 subgroups, 80 among which are Muslims, till July 31, Basu told reporters the OBC-related case at the HC would not affect admissions.
"There will be no impact. Should agricultural work stop because of predictions of drought or heavy rain? We will continue our work. If there is any instruction, we will take emergency measures," he said.
Another official, too, urged students to go ahead with admissions.
Each candidate can apply for 25 programmes or courses at one or multiple institutes in the state. The last date for applications is July 1, the first merit list will be published on July 6, and the first round of admissions will be held between July 6 and July 12.
No application fee will be required, and students from any part of the country can apply.
Basu said, "Last year, more than 4.4 lakh students took admission through this portal. The system ensures a transparent, systematic and easy-to-access process. Candidates can opt for courses and institutes of their choice on this single-window platform. It stops students from taking multiple admissions at the same time. A chatbot, 'Bina', will help candidates navigate through the process."
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Once the merit list is published, students can book a seat, which can be upgraded in the next round, subject to seat vacancy and merit position. Applicants can keep tabs on their status on a dashboard. Candidates will pay once through the portal while taking provisional admission. "But they may have to pay extra if they go in for a seat upgrade, depending on the institute fee," said an official. "Eligible applicants will be notified via SMS and email.
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On the delay in the opening of the admission portal and apprehensions about filling seats, Basu said, "Admissions were stalled due to the OBC-reservation issue. But once the backward classes welfare department published the gazette notification, we opened the portal in seven days. We are on a par with the UGC timeline. We plan to rationalise seats—increase seats for subjects in demand and at colleges, where the rush is more.
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