Four colleges appeal to allow excess intake

Kolkata: Burdened with pressue from the stakeholders — be it the student unions or the students themselves — four colleges have requested the varsity to allow them admit candidates more the sanctioned seats. The university, which had earlier put a cap on student intake across 132 campuses affiliated to it, will now place the letters before the Syndicate (the highest administrative decision-making body) to take a decision.
Four colleges that have sent a request include Surendranath College, Surendranath College for Women and Shri Shikshayatan College.Authorities of Seth Anandaram Jaipuria College are also thinking on similar lines though a letter is yet to be dispersed. “In the evening course, we had 1,300 BCom seats. This year, CU has slashed the number to 800. Since the demand is soaring, we want the university to restore our seats,” said a source.
CU pro-vice chancellor (academics) Swagata Sen confirmed that the varsity has received the letters. “We shall now place the matter before the Syndicate. The authorities will not take any decision and shall rather see what the Syndicate suggests. Accordingly, we will inform the colleges,” said Sen.
The colleges felt the infrastructure that had been developed over the years would go to waste if the number of seats is reduced. It will also result in revenue loss, they have pointed out. Secondly, they argued, there’s a huge demand in several popular courses due to the good faculty and the marks scored by the students.
“In some courses, the demand is excessive. If the university approves, we will abide by the university norms and give admissions to more students. If not allowed, we will remain within the limit that has already been set,” said Surendranath College principal Indranil Kar.
“Traditionally, we have noticed that after students take admissions in the first year, only one-third appear in the Part III examination. Already, we have received more than 25,000 applications. Some of the science stream subjects are extremely popular in our college. Hence we have appealed to the university,” he added.
Several calls to Shri Shikshayatan College went unanswered.