Jadavpur University (JU) will continue admitting students to its BTech programmes through the state's centralised counselling framework after its proposal for an independent admission process was not approved by the higher education department.

Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee confirmed that the university recently received official communication stating that admissions must be conducted through the counselling system managed by the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB), in line with other engineering institutions across the state.

Earlier in the year, the university had requested permission to organise its own counselling process immediately after the publication of WBJEE results. University officials believed that recurring delays in the centralised schedule often reduced the institution's ability to secure highly ranked candidates and affected the academic timeline.

Sources within the higher education department indicated that the WBJEEB has been encouraged to initiate the counselling process as early as possible in order to reduce admission-related delays.

The WBJEEB oversees the centralised online counselling procedure for engineering admissions in state-aided universities as well as government and private engineering colleges. After the completion of the standard counselling rounds, institutions are allowed to conduct additional admission rounds independently to fill any vacant seats.

University administrators and faculty members have long expressed concerns that delayed counselling causes many top-performing students to choose alternative institutions that complete their admissions earlier. They also argue that late admissions make it difficult to begin classes on schedule and complete the academic syllabus within the planned timeframe.

This year's admission calendar has been particularly affected because the state Joint Entrance Examination was held on May 24, later than usual due to the Assembly elections. Traditionally, there is a considerable gap between the announcement of examination results and the commencement of counselling.

Faculty members from the university's engineering departments have maintained that an earlier counselling process would help attract stronger candidates and preserve the institution's academic standards. They note that students admitted during later vacancy-filling rounds often have lower merit rankings compared to those admitted in the initial phases.

Admission statistics from the previous academic session illustrate the challenge. Out of the university's total intake capacity of 1,308 BTech seats, more than 150 reportedly remained vacant even after the completion of the centralised counselling process.