Students scoring 90% and above outnumber undergraduate berths in Kolkata

KOLKATA: If all the Plus-II candidates scoring 90% and above—barring those opting for professional courses—seek admission to undergraduate courses in city colleges and universities, not all can be accommodated, feel vice-chancellors and principals. Many principals estimated that there might just be enough seats in reputable colleges and two top universities for only one-third of candidates in this marks bracket.
WBCHSE, CISCE and CBSE cancelled their board exams this year and adopted various formulae to compute Class XII final scores. In HS, 100% candidates have passed, while CISCE and CBSE have failed only a negligible number of students. Close to 9,100 HS students have scored 90% and above, while principals have estimated that at least 6,750 from ISC and 5,000 from CBSE are likely to have got similar marks. Though ISC and CBSE have not announced any break-up of results, the estimate is based on feedback from the affiliated schools, many of which said almost 50% of their students scored 90% and above.

More than 10 lakh students from the three boards have passed Class XII in Bengal this year but the number of UG seats in the city is less than 2.5 lakh. To put this in context, the intake capacity of Presidency University 700, Jadavpur University 981, Lady Brabourne College 619, Bethune College 540, Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration 549 and Ramakrishna Misison Vidyamandira 202. Even there, the demand is not likely to be for all subjects, with very few takers being predicted for subjects, such as philosophy, Sanskrit and education. “Of the 20,000-odd students scoring 90% and above, a quarter will opt for medical, engineering, law or other courses. Even then, there won’t be enough seats in reputable colleges and universities for the remaining 15,000 candidates,” said the pro-vice-chancellor of a unitary university.
Several colleges, like Scottish Church, Lady Brabourne, Loreto, St Xavier’s, and Presidency and Jadavpur universities receive thousands of applications from Northeast students as well. “A sizeable number of students from the Northeast takes admission in our college every year,” said Scottish Church College vice-principal Supratim Das. Though several new universities and colleges have opened in the district, students scoring high marks usually opt for institutes in Kolkata, increasing the pressure here.
However, in 2019 and 2020, multiple seats in otherwise sought-after departments at some top colleges here remained vacant for a long time, but that was due to other reasons. Last year, the reason was that high-scorers had blocked seats for inordinately long without taking admission. “Also, unitary universities, like Presidency and JU, publish their results later than other colleges and some students migrate. But by this time, it is too late to for colleges to admit students afresh because a big chunk of syllabus is already over,” said Lady Brabourne College principal Siuli Sarkar.