Colleges switch to Best of Five for admission

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, February 16, 2007

The times they are changing in Calcutta University. Admissions in all the 160 colleges under Calcutta University (CU) will be done following the ‘Best of Five’ method from 2007. While no migration certificate will be required for the ICSE and CBSE students the, admission criteria will be same for students from all boards. However, there is bad news for those who want to study honours; the university is considering an increase in the basic eligibility criteria.
CU took the decision on Friday after the Higher Secondary Council decided to discard grand total from marksheet and give grades besides marks for each subject, a practice which is followed by ICSE and CBSE board. “Now there is a parity in syllabus, examination and evaluation pattern. The under graduate council of the university has passed the Best of Five method and it has been forwarded to the syndicate,” said Suranjan Das, pro-vice chancellor (academic) of CU. However, passing in English will be compulsory and the marks obtained in Environment Education, a subject declared compulsory by Supreme Court will not be considered for ‘Best of Five’.
The university will also issue a written circular to all the colleges asking them not to have separate set of eligibility criteria for the ICSE and CBSE students. “There should be no discrimination. This is a policy decision and all colleges will have to follow it. We will give the minimum eligibility criteria but the colleges are free to decide on any cut-off marks and take admission tests,” said Das.
For admitting honours students, CU will calculate the ‘Best of Five’ and add the marks obtained in the subject in which the student wants to study honours. However for admission in general course only the ‘Best of Five’ method will be followed.
The cut off marks for admission in honours is yet to be decided. Till date a student seeking to study honours in the colleges under CU had to score minimum 50 per cent in aggregate and 45 per cent in the subject in which he wants to take honours. “We are thinking of increasing the eligibility criteria both in case of total marks obtained after ‘Best of Five’ as well as marks obtained in the subject in which a student wants to study honours. This will ensure that quality students come to study honours. We will however take the final decision on February 27,” said Das.
The university may consider to have separate eligibility criteria for the arts, science and commerce students. “Since arts is a less scoring subject, it will be unfair if we demand same marks from them as we would from the other streams. This aspect will have to be discussed,” said Das.
The move to have new admission procedure was taken by the CU after West Bengal State Council of Higher Education (WBSCHE) urged all state universities to decided on the admission criteria after HS changed its marking pattern. WBSCHE plans to have same basic admission criteria for all the colleges of Bengal and it is most likely that all the state universities will go for ‘Best of Five’ method from 2007. However the colleges will have to follow old admission norms for admitting students who will pass HS under old syllabus.
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