None of the public universities in West Bengal have adopted the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG pattern for admission to undergraduate courses, authorities said on Sunday.
Diamond Harbor Women’s University Vice-Chancellor Soma Bandyopadhyay told PTI, “we have conducted the entrance test as per the directions of the state higher education department.” “Being a public university…we develop admission criteria according to the directives of the state department of higher education. We cannot adopt the CUET method or prepare a new merit list,” she said.
Jadavpur State University has already conducted its own entrance tests for UG courses for various faculties, Jadavpur University Teachers Association spokesperson Partha Pratim Roy said. “There is no way we can accept the CUET route for an institution like Jadavpur University, which follows a strict high-level admission procedure. All our disciplines – Science, Arts and Engineering – maintain high academic standards through this JU admissions process. The single route of CUET is not applicable for JU,” he said.
This year, the private St. Xavier’s University also conducted its own offline entrance tests. St Xavier’s University Vice-Chancellor Father Felix Raj said: “We are not going the CUET way.” Representatives of Presidency University, Vidyasagar University, Bardhaman University, MACAU, North Bengal University, West Bengal Technological University also said that they followed their own admission process as prescribed by the state higher education department. There will be no CUET-UG merit lists and no counseling for state universities, officials said.
A Visva Bharati University official said the Central University, which has UG courses in various disciplines, has adopted the CUET route. “The CUET eligibility criteria will be followed both for students of Patha Bhavan and Siksha Satra (Senior Secondary Education Units run by Viswa Bharati) and for students from other countries. But for diarists (those who have studied here up to the 12th standard), the bar will be slightly lowered,” said the press secretary.
Presidency University Students’ Union spokesperson Debnil Paul said, “We oppose the attempt to introduce uniform criteria for admission tests in all higher education institutions across the country. At the same time, the issue of academic autonomy of such institutions as the presidency is not taken into account.” The CUET-UG results were declared on September 16 by the National Testing Agency (NTA). “The merit lists will be prepared by the participating universities, who will decide on individual counseling based on the CUET-UG scorecard,” said Sadhana Parashar, senior director (examinations), NTA.
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