The Jadavpur University authorities today decided to scrap the entrance test procedure to undergraduate courses in six humanities subjects and admit students on the basis of marks obtained in board examinations.
The new system, applicable "only for this year", has displeased both the Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) and the Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU).
Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said the admission procedure of all the faculties should be similar.
"There will be no admission test to any of the six arts subjects. The entrance tests announced earlier have been cancelled," JU Registrar Chiranjib Bhattacharya told reporters after a meeting of the Executive Committee (EC), the highest decision-making body of the university.
He said the EC decided that the admission will be solely based on marks obtained in the board examinations.
The decision was arrived at the EC meeting in the wake of displeasure among a large section of Arts Faculty teachers over the previous decision to get the entrance test conducted by external experts, the registrar said.
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An emergency meeting of senior JU officials over the involvement of external experts in the admission procedure had remained inconclusive yesterday.
"In the present impasse there was little possibility of conducting entrance tests by addressing the concerns of our teachers. Keeping that in mind, and in view of the uncertainties faced by thousands of candidates, we decided to go by the marks criteria only for this year," he said.
A JUTA spokesman said, "Admitting students solely based on marks may lower the high academic standard of JU arts faculty, as we will have to admit candidates without proper evaluation of their writing abilities. This is a departure from the JU's long-tested standards," he said.
An AFSU leader said, "We are not accepting this decision. We will continue our agitation."