With second PU and class 12 examinations cancelled, universities are in a fix as to how to conduct admissions for undergraduate courses, with some varsities saying that colleges affiliated to them can conduct their own entrance tests.
K.R. Venugopal, Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, said colleges that have received more applications than the number of seats can conduct their own entrance test and admit students based on the scores. “Colleges can also admit students based on entrance test as well as class 12 marks allotted by their respective boards. However, colleges which have low demand for seats need not conduct an entrance test and can just use the marks allotted by the boards to shortlist students.” He said that of the 300 colleges affiliated to the university, only 20 colleges are in high demand by students.
The Vice-Chancellor of another state-run university, wishing not to be named, said officials of different universities are deliberating and want to conduct a common admission test, the scores of which can be used to admit students in all universities. “If we leave it to the college management, each college will conduct one entrance test and that will make it extremely difficult for students as they have to appear for multiple tests. Therefore, we want to conduct one entrance test that students can appear either offline or online.” However, the universities are waiting for the government to take a call on this issue.
An official of the Higher Education Department said that while they were mulling over asking students who wanted to pursue B.Sc courses to appear for the Common Entrance Test (CET), there was no deliberation on how students who wanted to pursue commerce and arts courses would be admitted. “The demand for arts courses is low, so students can be admitted based on the marks given by the respective boards. But the demand for commerce is very high and there is a need to devise a screening method for these courses,” the official added.
C.B. Annapurnamma, principal of National College, Basavanagudi, said the college was waiting for the government’s direction and would follow the norms prescribed.
Many students, however, do not want colleges and universities to conduct an entrance test and simply use the scores that will be allotted by the boards to admit students.
Amaresh Kadaga, State president, Students’ Federation of India, said, “When the State government has cancelled the examinations due to the COVID-19 situation, colleges and universities should not be allowed to conduct their own entrance test. Private colleges and universities will only take advantage of this situation and exploit students by charging a hefty fee to conduct the examination.”