Presi quota for its students - Test route open to those who fail to make the cut

Half the seats in all postgraduate courses at Presidency University will be reserved for students who have graduated from the erstwhile Presidency College this year.

To become eligible for a reserved seat in a science subject, a student will have to score at least 55 per cent marks in graduation.

The cut-off for a seat in a humanities subject is 50 per cent.

“The students from the erstwhile college will not have to sit for the admission test and will be selected on the basis of their marks in the honours papers,” said a member of the Presidency University council, which finalised the decision on seat reservation on Monday.

Those who have failed to secure the cut-off marks may still gain a postgraduate berth, but only after cracking the admission test.

“This is the first time the institution is reserving seats at the postgraduate level for its graduates,” said a member of the council.

Admissions for the 20-odd postgraduate courses at Presidency University will begin from September 1.

The Presidency University Act states that special provisions have to be made for the admission of the institute’s undergraduate students to its postgraduate courses.

The College Street institution, which had been a Calcutta University affiliate, was upgraded to a unitary university in October last year. This is the first time it is admitting students to postgraduate courses as a university.

The cut-off for applicants from other institutes will be the same as that fixed for Presidency students, said an official. But these students will have to take the admission test.

Council sources said the mentor group for the university had not been informed about the quota, which many may consider regressive. The council is Presidency’s highest decision-making body and will remain so till the court and the executive council are set up.

“The quota system will lend an unfair advantage to undergraduates from Presidency,” said a teacher who did not wish to be named. “If we want excellence, we should provide equal opportunities to all and merit should be the only criterion for admission.”

Jadavpur University, a unitary varsity like Presidency, has no such quota for its students. But sources said “outside students get a look-in only after all deserving JU graduates have got berths”.