The West Bengal government has introduced a centralised online system for admission to undergraduate (UG) courses in all state-run, aided or affiliated colleges and universities from the 2023-24 academic session, said an official statement issued on Monday, April 24.
The single-window platform will now allow students to choose their preferred colleges and eliminate the need to pay admission fees multiple times in various institutions to block seats.
Principal Secretary Manish Jain said in the statement that the system will be maintained and operated by the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education and there will be a dedicated bank account of the council to deposit admission fees.
The council will transfer the admission fees to the respective educational institution within one month from the date of completion of the admission process, it said.
The centralised admission system was implemented seeing that many students had to apply to various colleges and universities by registering themselves on online portals of different institutions and paying separate application fees.
The notice states...
"A student had to take admission in a particular college within a specific time-frame, block the seat and apply in other institutions where admissions began later. As a result, the student had to pay multiple admission fees in various colleges and faced problems in getting refund from institutions he or she did not take admission finally," the notice stated.
The notification added that there is a need for uniformity and transparency in the admission system of colleges and universities under the administrative control of the Higher Education Department. However, the Higher Education Department may, at its discretion, keep any course or institution out of the purview of the centralised admission portal.