Another year, another GCAS portal blunders, students await proper system for admission
The government launched a centralised admission portal Gujarat Common Admission Services (GCAS) last year to streamline admission procedures for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in state universities. However, the portal is again under fire for alleged mismanagement.While the government was praised for initiating the process early and making programmatic and administrative changes to simplify it, this year, no information has been made public about seat allotments or admissions in UG courses. This has sparked speculation that thousands of seats remain vacant or that irregularities have occurred, and thus the government is avoiding disclosing the data. Moreover, universities reportedly lack accountable officials to address these issues.The centralised admission process through the GCAS portal is currently ongoing for UG and PG courses across 15 state universities including Gujarat University, Gujarat Technological University, and other universities in Kutch, Saurashtra, Bhavnagar, south Gujarat, north Gujarat.Following last year’s numerous irregularities, the government changed the approach this year — after centralised registration, seat allotment responsibility was shifted to the respective universities and colleges. Colleges were supposed to prepare merit lists based on cut-offs and offer admission to students as per their choices and merit via the GCAS portal. Students were to receive offers for multiple courses and colleges.According to the UG admission schedule, students were to see their first-round online admission offers today. However, reports suggest many colleges did not even prepare the merit lists. There have also been complaints that subjects within Arts and Commerce streams in some colleges have been changed without notice, as per reports. Additionally, even though the official date was May 29, offers from some colleges allegedly started appearing two days earlier, confusing students due to a lack of clarity on the legitimacy of those offers.While the government had earlier taken pride in the GCAS system, it has now reportedly failed to disclose even the basic details, such as how many seats have been allotted and how many remain vacant. It is being discussed that out of approximately 4 lakh UG seats, thousands are still unfilled — which may be the reason for withholding the data.Notably, out of over 64,000 UG seats in Arts, Commerce, Science, and integrated courses at Gujarat University, only 58,000 have been filled, leaving more than 6,000 vacant.
The government launched a centralised admission portal Gujarat Common Admission Services (GCAS) last year to streamline admission procedures for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in state universities. However, the portal is again under fire for alleged mismanagement.
While the government was praised for initiating the process early and making programmatic and administrative changes to simplify it, this year, no information has been made public about seat allotments or admissions in UG courses.
This has sparked speculation that thousands of seats remain vacant or that irregularities have occurred, and thus the government is avoiding disclosing the data. Moreover, universities reportedly lack accountable officials to address these issues.
The centralised admission process through the GCAS portal is currently ongoing for UG and PG courses across 15 state universities including Gujarat University, Gujarat Technological University, and other universities in Kutch, Saurashtra, Bhavnagar, south Gujarat, north Gujarat.
Following last year’s numerous irregularities, the government changed the approach this year — after centralised registration, seat allotment responsibility was shifted to the respective universities and colleges. Colleges were supposed to prepare merit lists based on cut-offs and offer admission to students as per their choices and merit via the GCAS portal. Students were to receive offers for multiple courses and colleges.
According to the UG admission schedule, students were to see their first-round online admission offers today. However, reports suggest many colleges did not even prepare the merit lists.
There have also been complaints that subjects within Arts and Commerce streams in some colleges have been changed without notice, as per reports. Additionally, even though the official date was May 29, offers from some colleges allegedly started appearing two days earlier, confusing students due to a lack of clarity on the legitimacy of those offers.
While the government had earlier taken pride in the GCAS system, it has now reportedly failed to disclose even the basic details, such as how many seats have been allotted and how many remain vacant. It is being discussed that out of approximately 4 lakh UG seats, thousands are still unfilled — which may be the reason for withholding the data.
Notably, out of over 64,000 UG seats in Arts, Commerce, Science, and integrated courses at Gujarat University, only 58,000 have been filled, leaving more than 6,000 vacant.
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