West Bengal government introduced a centralized online system for UG course admission

The West Bengal government has launched a centralized online admission system for all state-run, aided, or affiliated colleges and universities. The official notification stated that it would be operational beginning with the current academic year, or 2023–24.

Through the single-window platform, students will be able to select the colleges of their choice without having to repeatedly pay admission fees to different institutions to block seats.

The West Bengal State Council of Higher Education will maintain and run the online admission system, according to the announcement released on Monday by Principal Secretary Manish Jain. The council will also have a dedicated bank account where admission fees can be deposited.

According to the statement, the council would transfer the admission fees to the appropriate educational institution within a month of the admissions process’ conclusion.

However, the notification stated that the Higher Education Department may, at its discretion, exclude any course or institution from the purview of the centralized admission site. The government said that the centralized admission system was put in place in response to the difficulties faced by students who were required to apply to several colleges and universities by registering on individual institutions’ web portals and paying separate application fees.

“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 a refund from institutions he or she did not take admission finally,” the notice stated.

According to the notification, the Higher Education Department wanted to give every student the opportunity to choose the course they wanted to take, considering the need for consistency and transparency in the admissions system of colleges and universities that fall under its administrative control.