By: Shuvrajit Das Biswas
KOLKATA: The student movement in
Jadavpur University over the past fortnight may have dampened the spirits of budding engineers, forcing many to opt out of the admission process despite finding a seat, but the interest of the humanities applicants is going strong. Despite the flip-flop in the admission procedure and several changes in decisions regarding the entrance tests in six undergraduate departments, the number of applicants this year across the
Arts faculty stands at 15,600 — considerably higher than last year’s 14,200.
Though critics point out that the extended application deadline may have resulted in the hike in number of candidates, others said it only reinforced the fact that there was no decline in interest in the humanities subjects at
JU. The highest number of applications were for English — 4,713. The last date of application was Thursday.
Srishti Chatterjee, who has applied for sociology and English, said, “I got through Delhi University and enrolled there. But a lot of people, including myself, still want to go to JU because they favour freedom to think over merit.”
The six departments which were in the eye of a storm —Bengali, English, comparative literature, history, philosophy and political
science — have received a total of 12,416 applicants.
Third-year English student Debagata Bose said, “The entrance examinations for English this year were initially supposed to be held on July 4. The students would have started classes by July 21 and got at least six months to finish the requisite material for the first semester. However, due to several external interferences, not only has the examination been postponed, but there has been a rather unfair revision of a system which has, time and again, proven to be more than satisfactory. Students will now have to finish the syllabus in less than five months.”
He added, “Despite the constraint and delay, if the number of applicants has increased, it shows the success of the movement. The chaos couldn’t deter the spirit of those who are seeking admission in JU. This shows that they have been attracted to the reputation of the Arts faculty and nothing else.”
JU was supposed to hold the admission tests in the six Arts departments from July 3 to July 6 onwards, which were postponed to July 11-14. Finally, it will be conducted between July 21and July 25.
“The only reason why I want my daughter to study in JU is because of the good reputation of the faculty and the alumni which the university has churned out. Otherwise, the delay in the admission process and continuous student political activism are enough to deter any parent from enrolling their children here,” said Suparno Ghosal, father of an applicant in history.
Physics teacher Partha Pratim Roy, who is also the secretary of Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association, said, “JU has an increased number of candidates applying for UG courses because the number of achievements secured by the university is way more than the negative impact garnered from student movements.”
Jadavpur University
