West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination for Private Engineering Colleges

KOLKATA, India: Opening up a whole new debate on admissions to private engineering colleges in the state, the West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) has proposed doling out vacant seats to higher secondary (HS) graduates with 50% marks after exhausting the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination - WBJEE merit list.

The proposal has come with 6,000 seats remaining vacant in 94 private technology colleges. While teachers blame it on the mushrooming of institutes, mostly without proper infrastructure, students point to poor placement records in several institutes.

Calling it an ad hoc suggestion, vice-chancellor of WBUT, Sabyasachi Sengupta, added, "There is no question of supplanting the joint entrance examination (JEE) for engineering courses. But in a situation where seats remain vacant even after the JEE list is exhausted, private colleges may consider admitting students if they fulfil the minimum criterion of scoring 50% in HS exam."

With present rules not permitting admission under two separate categories WBJEE and HS, the state higher education minister, Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury, wasn't very keen on the new idea.

But veering the discussion towards the graver concern of quality, JEE chairman Siddhartha Dutta said, "More seats are vacant in new self-financed colleges, but students may find it difficult to trust them all." Disillusioned by the mushrooming of institutes, Pijush Biswas, a teacher of information and technology in RCC Institute of Information and Technology, said, "The university has extended affiliation to several colleges without a proper study on the actual requirement of trained professionals by the industry."

In addition the WBJEE review committee to oversee quality of education in private engineering colleges is also yet to see the light of day. "There are cases of students dropping out even after getting admission because of a lack of infrastructure in such private colleges," said Biswas