Kolkata: The fresh academic session for postgraduate courses will begin on Aug 1, the higher education department said in a notice issued on Tuesday.The notice stated that the state-aided universities are required to maintain an 80:20 ratio between home university students and others. State-aided unitary universities, meanwhile, will follow a 90:10 ratio between home university students and others. The admission process must be completed by the last week of July. Students cannot be asked to be physically present for counselling or verification during the admission process. A university official said: "The notice said that admission should be based on merit, which we will also follow, but through an entrance test, which we felt was important this time as students from different course formats will apply for postgraduate admission." tnn