The English Press Club interviewed Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh—Dean, Academic-Undergraduate Studies Division (AUGSD)—to understand the admissions process for the First Degree Programmes for the batch of 2021, most notably, the spot rounds, which were conducted for the first time.
The Dean mentioned that thirteen iterations were conducted this year—the first eleven were normal counselling rounds and the last two, named Special Spot Iterations 1 and 2 (SP1 and SP2), were spot rounds. To explain this change in the admission process, the Dean reflected on how other higher educational institutes in India apart from BITS had also suffered.
Prof. Singh mentioned two major reasons for the change in the admissions process. Firstly, the fact that JEE Advanced 2021 had been repeatedly postponed and was finally held on October 3, 2021 and secondly, the structure of the fee refund policy for the academic year 2021–22, as outlined by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The fee refund policy stated that the entire fee paid by a student would be refunded if they withdrew from the admission process before October 31, 2021, and only ₹1000 would be deducted from the refund if they withdrew between November 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. He explained that students exercised their right to avail the well-publicised UGC fee refund policy to ‘block’ seats to the extent that all the seats remained filled for a number of iterations, resulting in virtually no change in the cutoff scores. However, he expressed his disappointment at the fact that in the last week of December 2021, there had been several applicants across the three campuses withdrawing from the Institute, even from some of the highly sought after branches. When asked if BITS had any vacant seats post the spot rounds, he said that most seats had been filled. He mentioned that not only private institutions like BITS, but also government institutions, including the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), state universities, and even the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), had vacant seats due to the unprecedented situation over the last year.
Prof. Singh acknowledged that there were some scheduling issues for the 2021 batch due to the unprecedented impact of COVID-19. However, he stated that the institute administration did everything they could to ensure that the students did not have to deal with the repercussions of circumstances beyond their control. He mentioned that the introduction of spot rounds this year also allowed students to rectify their preference order in case they had filled it incorrectly. Before the pandemic, the option to freeze campuses was offered to students only after they were on campus, however, in the recent online iterations, students were instead offered the option to freeze their allotted programmes. The spot rounds also offered students the chance to unfreeze previous preferences and fill a new set altogether. He stressed upon the substantial efforts that the administration took to ensure the development of new softwares and streamlining of the iterations within a short period.
The Dean recognised that over the course of multiple iterations, there had been many changes that students saw with respect to their allotted campus, programmes, and registered courses. For example, if a student’s Programme was changed from a B.E. Programme to an M.Sc. programme, their registered courses might have also changed. Similarly, in the case of campus change, the entire timetable of the student might have changed and such students would be affected academically. In view of all these changes, they allowed students enrolled during or after the 7th iteration to switch to the New Academic Calendar (NAC). He mentioned that this decision was taken to ensure that no student suffered academically.
When asked about any administrative problems that had arisen for the faculty members due to the three parallel calendars running, Prof. Singh replied that the faculty understands that these are unprecedented times and that ultimately, the administration takes decisions keeping in mind the long-term benefits for everyone. He added that the easiest option for the administration would have been to introduce Second Semester Admissions, a policy outlined in the Bulletin, where another set of students would have been admitted to the Institute in the second semester. However, they did not go through with this option because they recognised that this would mean that an entire set of students would graduate one semester late and that they did not want the students to suffer. He said that people do not often understand the thought that goes into taking these decisions and tend to wrongly speculate upon the reasons behind them.
We asked the Dean for his thoughts on the cutoff drops seen across various streams.He mentioned that had they not held the spot round after the many withdrawals in December, there would have been no drop in cutoff but seats would have remained vacant. He added that the reason behind conducting spot rounds was to ensure that no party—those who were already enrolled at BITS and wanted to shift to some other branch, those who were on the waitlist due to the nature of their preferences, and those who withdrew from the admission process at some point in the past without anticipating the drop in cutoffs—was left at a disadvantage. In his opinion, a lot of the factors that contributed to this drop, such as the UGC fee refund guidelines, should not be applicable for the 2022 admissions.
The Dean mentioned that as things stand, the 2022 batch will not have the option of a spot round. He said that the administration plans to release the admit list after Iteration I for the 2022 batch on September 8, 2022 as the JEE Advanced 2022 has been postponed to August 28, 2022. He explained that because of this there will be a separate calendar for the incoming batch.
The interview concluded with two main points from the Dean. The first, more relevant to those aspiring to join the Institute, was that starting this year, BITSAT would be conducted twice and a student’s better score would be considered for the merit list. The second, important for those admitted to the Institute in 2021, was that dual degree allotments would be released after the CGPAs are declared for both the academic calendars. The dual degree allotment would be based on a joint merit list comprising students from both calendars. The Dean reiterated that the intent of the administration is to ensure that no student is at a disadvantage due to decisions taken in these unprecedented times. He also assured that as an institution, BITS is committed to developing, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working collaboratively to bring this knowledge for the greatest benefit of our society.