Don’t need so many seats, colleges write to CU ahead of new session

Kolkata: Several colleges affiliated with Calcutta University are considering reducing their undergraduate seats due to a yearly dip in enrolment. Two colleges have already appealed to the university to reduce the number of seats ahead of the fresh admission season.New Alipore College and Maheshtala College have sent letters to the university after witnessing a decline in student enrolment in subjects like Sanskrit, Bengali, philosophy, economics and mathematics. At New Alipore College, only around 1,200 of the total 2,800 seats were filled last year while at Maheshtala College, only 250 of the 1,500 seats were filled. Ahead of the start of the UG admission season, both colleges have appealed for a reduction in seats.New Alipore College has sought a reduction in seats for Sanskrit, philosophy, mathematics and economics. College principal Jaydeep Sarangi said, "For the last few years, we have been getting very few students in these subjects, though each of them has an average of 40 to 60 seats. However, last year, only one student took admission in Sanskrit major while enrolment in the other three courses remained in single digits. We are not expecting anything better this year either. So, we have requested the university to consider our appeal."Maheshtala College has requested a 50% reduction in its total seats. Following a decision by the governing body, the college appealed to the university to reduce seats in almost all subjects, including Bengali, Sanskrit, philosophy, economics and computer science. College principal Rumpa Das said, "The decision was taken by the college governing body after reviewing the trend over the last few years. We have already sent a letter to the university and are waiting for an alteration in the seat matrix."Speaking on the issue, principals of other colleges said they are considering similar steps, as low enrolment creates difficulties during NAAC accreditation and in ranking systems, where the student-teacher ratio plays a vital role. The principal of a college in South 24 Parganas said, "We are also planning to do this because last year, we had zero enrolment in Sanskrit, which had 30 seats. In subjects like mathematics and chemistry, too, student numbers are in single digits. When we apply for NAAC accreditation, this may badly affect the overall student-teacher ratio."On the other hand, Panchur College in Mahestala has appealed for an increase in seats in its three-year multidisciplinary course. Lopamudra Bandyopadhyay, TIC of the college, said that based on the experience of the past two-three years, the college found that many students are keen to pursue the three-year multidisciplinary course but many are turned away due to limited seats. "Given the growing interest in admission to multidisciplinary courses, we have appealed for an increase in seats for this course," she said.Last year, out of 9.4 lakh UG seats across Bengal colleges, only 2.7 lakh were filled through the centralised admission portal. Most colleges affiliated with CU are included in the centralised admission process.University officials expressed concern about the sharp decline in student enrolment in Calcutta University colleges over the past few years, with the number dropping to around 76,000 in the 2025-26 academic session.