The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board’s decision to restrict students already admitted to BTech programmes through centralised counselling from participating in decentralised counselling has triggered concerns among students and university teachers.

The key concern is that students who have already secured admission may lose the opportunity to move to a preferred college or engineering branch if seats become available during the later stages of the admission process.

The WBJEE examination was conducted on May 24 this year, while decentralised counselling for vacant seats is expected to begin around September 2.

Teachers raise concerns over upgrade opportunities

A teacher from Jadavpur University said the new restriction could have a significant impact on candidates with strong WBJEE ranks. According to the teacher, students who had already secured admission were previously able to participate in later counselling rounds and seek an upgrade when seats opened up in a preferred institution or programme.

Candidates ranking within approximately the top 600 in the state entrance examination are among those who secure admission to BTech programmes at Jadavpur University through the board’s centralised counselling system.

In earlier years, seats that remained vacant after centralised counselling could be filled through decentralised counselling conducted by individual institutions under arrangements permitted by the higher education department.

Universities including Jadavpur University and Calcutta University used this mechanism to give students an opportunity to move to engineering disciplines that better matched their preferences, depending on seat availability and admission rules.

JUTA objects to the new arrangement

The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) has criticised the latest counselling arrangement. The association believes that preventing already-admitted students from participating could leave vacant seats largely available to candidates who have not obtained admission elsewhere.

Teachers argue that this may disadvantage higher-ranked candidates who have already joined an institution but are still interested in securing admission to their preferred engineering branch or college.

Class XII marks also questioned

Another provision has attracted criticism from teachers. Under the proposed arrangement, candidates may be considered for some vacant BTech seats on the basis of their Higher Secondary or Class XII examination marks.

Teachers have questioned the rationale for using Class XII performance for such admissions, arguing that the WBJEE ranking system is intended to assess candidates through their entrance examination performance.

WBJEE Board defends decision

WBJEE Board president Gautam Paul has defended the decision. He said the board had already completed three rounds of centralised counselling before moving to the process for filling the remaining vacant seats.

According to Paul, candidates who did not participate in the earlier counselling rounds should now be given an opportunity to compete for the seats that remain available.