Jadavpur University (JU) will continue to admit students based on JEE rankings but has decided to manage its own BTech counselling process from this academic year. The move, approved by the university’s Executive Council (EC) on Sunday, aims to attract high-performing candidates and reduce delays in admissions. The university has also reportedly sought approval from the state education department.

Despite being ranked the top state university in the NIRF list and placing 18th among engineering institutions, JU has recently struggled to secure top-ranking students. Many high scorers in WBJEE have been choosing institutes such as IITs and NITs instead. This year, all 16 engineering departments saw a decline in the ranks of admitted students compared to the previous year. Additionally, about 150 out of 1,308 BTech seats remained unfilled after two rounds of centralised counselling conducted by the state JEE board.

Partha Pratim Biswas, a former dean of the engineering faculty and EC member, explained that the decision was intended to speed up admissions and ensure that talented students are not lost. He noted that while JU will still respect the JEE merit list and prioritise candidates from the state, handling counselling internally should make the process faster. Delays in the centralised system often lead students to accept offers from other institutions, which in turn pushes back JU’s academic schedule by several months and affects its reputation and placement outcomes.

Arindam Sil, an associate professor in electrical engineering and EC member, pointed out that late commencement of classes increases academic pressure on students and can result in backlogs.

Although the EC largely supported the proposal, Goutam Pal, the state government’s nominee and chairman of the state JEE board, raised objections. He stated that last year’s counselling delays were caused by legal issues related to OBC reservations rather than the board itself. He also emphasized that implementing independent counselling would require changes to the existing JEE board regulations.

Meanwhile, physics professor Partha Pratim Ray, another EC member, maintained that the university has the autonomy to decide how it conducts counselling in order to uphold its academic standards.