The uncertainty over the new JEE Main 2013 pattern and the exam modalities have seen an unprecedented spurt in the admissions of outside Bengal students to the top two tech colleges in the state. The percentage of students from outside Bengal at Jadavpur University (JU) has seen an increase of up to 35% this year as compared to 2012 where it was 10%. While the percentage of outside Bengal students was below 10% in 2011, the figures range between 250 and 300 in 2013. The Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) showed a increase of over 18.4% as compared to the low 10% in 2012 as per a university official. 87 candidates belong to outside Bengal category out of a total of 474 cansidates. The outstation students are not just part of the merit list but are part of the top-10,000 bracket in a large number. In terms of representation in the top 10,000 bracket, Calcutta is just barely ahead with 13.36% over Assam’s 11.34%. The trend shows a domination of students from Bihar and Jharkhand amongst the successful outstation candidates who have made it to these two top colleges. According to the JU & Besu officials, this trend could be the result of the changed JEE Main 2013 pattern. The objective-multiple choice exam pattern may have aided this trend as per the principal of a central Calcutta school whose students have been part of the JEE Merit List for years. The past few years have seen changes in the state JEE exam pattern with the entirely objective question paper closely resembling the All India Entrance Exams. 2013 has seen the introduction of objective questions with multiple correct answers in the WBJEE similar to the JEE Advanced 2013. Another reason for the increase in outstation students seems to be the large numbers who have attempted the exam. As per the WBJEE figures, about 38.3% (42,382 candidates) outstation students from a total of 1,10,599 students have appeared for the WBJEE exam with 31,224 candidates making it to the merit lists. Last years figure show a low number with 13,000 admissions from 23,000 plus students who had appeared for the exam. Siddhartha Dutta the pro-vice chancellor of JU, is surprised by the striking changes in the student composition this year which seems to be holding good across engineering disciplines. Civil Engineering shows an admission rate of 40% of outstation candidates as compared to 10 to 12 per cent last year. Mechanical engineering has shown a increase of up to 40%, against 5 to 6 per cent last year whereas admissions in computer science, is 25% less than the 5 per cent last year,” said a JU official. There has been a significant increase in the outstation candidates in the civil, mechanical and electronics engineering disciplines at Besu. The uncertainty over the NIT and IIT admissions seem to have caused the increase in the number of outstation aspirants for the WBJEE examination in 2013. The consideration of the Class XII marks along with the JEE Main 2013 Scores for the NIT admissions as well as the compulsory feature of candidates in the top twenty percentile for the IIT admissions while attempting the JEE Advanced 2013. Since students needed to score only 45% in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry to attempt the WBJEE 2013 and secure a seat, many students have opted for the same considering the seemingly tough criteria of the JEE Main and Advanced exams for 2013. Bhaskar Gupta, the chairman of the WBJEE board, mentioned that the data pertaining to this was being collected and looked into to check for any unusual trends.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 08:57:17 +0000
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