Kolkata: Following a drop in applications for Calcutta University’s postgraduate programmes, authorities scrapped the computer-based entrance test this year. The admission for maximum courses under humanities will be held based on marks, while a pen-and-paper test will be conducted for certain science subjects where the number of applicants slightly exceeds the available seats.Vice chancellor Asutosh Gosh said, “Earlier, we planned to hold an admission test. Since applications are very few, there is no point in holding a centralised examination because there are many departments where the number of seats is higher than the applications we received. So, in that case, it has been decided that the departments will hold entrance test as per requirement.”Approximately 1,400 applications were received for around 4,000 PG seats across the university as well as the courses run in the university-affiliated colleges. Compared to this, science courses received a slightly higher number of applications and the CU has decided to go ahead with an entrance test, which will be conducted by the respective departments.For the science courses, around 1,700 applications have been received. There are 700 seats for PG courses for the science stream, while adding PG seats across CU-affiliated colleges, the number will come to around 2,900. The university has decided to hold admission tests on July 14 and 15. Since applications are few, the university decided to hold a test using its mechanism instead of hiring any agency to conduct computer-based exams. An official said, “The examination will be based on MCQ-type questions and it will be a pen-paper exam. So, this time candidates will get 1.5 hours to write their exams. In previous years, it was a 1-hour exam. To avoid further controversies, we focused on the handwritten answers.”In humanities, there will be exams on English and journalism and mass communication only, while admission to other subjects will be held according to marks only. An official from the Arts faculty said, “This year’s applications for each course are quite low, even lower than the total number of seats in the respective courses. Only in English and journalism and mass communication, the number of applications is slightly higher than in the other subjects. Hence, entrance tests will be held for only these two subjects.” He stated that applications for each course are below 40%.Explaining the fact, university officials stated that those who were studying a four-year degree programme could get an honours degree after completion even if they failed to meet the marks criteria for earning honours with a research degree. However, if they leave a course after three years, then they will get either ‘graduate with a major’ and for three-year multidisciplinary courses ‘graduation with two cores and one minor’.Another official said, “There are many students who felt an honours degree would add value compared to getting a degree named ‘graduation with a major’. We have already spoken to numerous students who expressed this to us. Moreover, promotion to seven semesters is not a big deal, while for leaving the course after three years, they have to clear all the previous semesters by completing a summer internship. Due to this, most of the students planned for a one-year PG diploma rather than pursuing a two-year PG programme.”The four-year degree programme was introduced in 2023-24. The first batch of the four-year degree programme is pursuing its third year now, where it has been allowed to make the choice to either exit or continue into the four-year programme. The students who wanted to leave the undergraduate programme after three years then had to choose an exit option and apply for postgraduation. However, after the sorting was made following the closure of the admission portal, CU saw applications were below 40% for streams like science and humanities.