New DU admission plan a boon to Kolkata students

KOLKATA: The decision by Delhi University to alter the entrance process for BBA, Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) and BA (economics) undergraduate courses brought cheer to students in Kolkata.
The new admission criteria will be of immense help to those who aspire to study these subjects in DU because the university now gives substantial weightage to the admission test, personal interview and group discussion, rather than just the Class-XII marks.Till now, it had been tough for city students to compete with their counterparts from other cities on the basis of their board examination scores.
Those opting for BA (honours) in Business Economics will not have to appear for an interview. Equal weightage will be given to entrance test scores and Class-XII marks.
Students appearing for BBA will be assessed on the basis of an entrance test (50%), Class XII results (30%) and a round of personal interview and group discussion (10%)
Shreya Basak, a Class-XII commerce student from BSS said, "This is a good opportunity for students like us who aspire to study in DU. Since we are from West Bengal board it often becomes difficult for us to complete with the mind-boggling marks that students from other boards get."
According to Basak, if the eligibility of these courses are completely dependent on the marks obtained in Class XII result then the scope of making it through becomes very narrow as every year the cut-offs in DU touch 100%.
Some students felt that an entrance test for securing a seat in a college is not a very good idea, but they also mentioned that entrance tests were important since it gave the students a glimpse of what the course was all about.
It will also be beneficial for the institutions as they will be able to rope in only those students who had the desired set of skills.
Urmimala Mukherjee, a first year economics honours student of St Xavier’s College, said, "English carries an extra weight for getting admission in all streams in DU. But the marking system of English is very unpredictable and the marks depend on the perspective of the person checking the paper. So, it will be beneficial for students if an assessment test is taken before the admission."
On the other hand, Jubonashya Dutta, a student of GD Birla, said that instead of making just these three courses easy to get admitted in, DU should also consider mainstream courses like BCom (honours), so that more students from the city find it easier to secure a seat.
For this year, registrations for BMS, BBA (finance and investment analysis) and BA (honours) in business economics will start from May 20 and continue till June 5.