Presidency University may reopen portal as West Bengal JEE set to refund test fee

KOLKATA: Students, who were disappointed when West Bengal Joint Entrance Exam Board cancelled the entrance tests at Presidency University, are now eagerly waiting for the institute to reopen its application process for 16 undergraduate programmes. With WBJEEB already issuing a notice about refund of the fees that candidates had paid for entrance tests, Presidency is now likely to finalize the process and announce the application criteria for UG programmes next week.
“The continuing Covid pandemic has made it difficult to conduct admission tests. After the state government decided to cancel all entrance examinations, keeping in mind the health and safety of students, WBJEE Board was forced to scrap the admission test at Presidency despite collecting application fees and completing formalities,” said a senior higher education department official.

He added that even the question papers had been readied when the exam was cancelled. “Now that WBJEE Board is set to refund the entrance test fees, Presidency University is likely to reopen the admission portal. But the final decision will be taken at the university’s admissions committee meeting,” the official said. The board recently asked students who had paid for entrance tests to apply for refund within July 31.
Presidency University could only reopen its admission portal after the WBJEE Board cancelled their earlier notification to hold admission tests, which were initially slated for April 11 and 12 and were postponed due to the pandemic. “The same UG admissions cannot have two notifications. Thus, the first one had to be cancelled before we can issue the admissions circular. We will subsequently decide on a date to publish the merit lists,” said Presidency registrar Debajyoti Konar. Going by the request from the state government, the university will not charge any application fee.
Senior Bikash Bhavan officials pointed out that since all state-run universities had been instructed to open the UG admission portals from August 2, Presidency could not be an exception. According to the government directive, online applications have to be completed by August 20 and the first merit list has to be published by August 31. First-semester classes have to begin from October 1.
Last year, in absence of an admission test, Presidency University had admitted students based on marks they had obtained in their Class X boards and Plus-II Higher Secondary or equivalent (10+2 standard) examinations.
Over the past few years, WBJEE Board had been holding admission tests. “This time, admissions committee will have to be cautious while framing the criteria and chalk out a formula to judge the applicants’ merit in the best possible manner,” said an official. Last year, the Presidency University Admissions Committee had included Class X scores as it gave an understanding of the candidates’ overall merit.
“In the absence of the actual evaluation, the admission committee will chalk out a similar formula when only those who have been consistent in their performance will find a seat,” said a teacher.