kolkata bagging a postgraduate seat by the virtue of being an alumnus of the college or university is soon going to become a thing of the past state higher education council chairman sugato marjit has requested state varsities to reserve only 50 of seats for students from affiliated colleges this year the rest will be open for admissions to candidates from other universities it may be noted that in accordance with the mamata banerjee governments pledge education minister bratya basu had already voiced his opinion to conduct a common entrance test cet for all state universities and autonomous colleges offering postgraduate courses this is however a makeshift arrangement from next year every student will have to appear in the common entrance test to bag pg seat in any university even one to which hisher college is affiliated we will advise all university authorities through a letter on thursday to open 50 pg seats to students from other state universities all prospective pg candidates will then have an equal access we want to see if the universities agree inprinciple to our aim that all students have a right to compete for pg seats said marjit adding that they have already floated the idea of a common entrance test for pg courses from next year we have also requested the universities to depute two representatives for a discussion on cet a decision will be taken only after a consensus emerges if universities agree to throw open 50 pg seats they will be given complete freedom to decide on the methods of admissions they can hold interviews conduct admission tests or select candidates on the basis of marks in their undergraduate honours courses however since the varsities are autonomous they will now have to decide if they agree to our suggestion marjit said reasons floated by the government to introduce a common entrance test for pg seats are that it will give due priority to merit and also allow mobility of best brains to centres of excellence at present most state universities reserve 95 pg seats for their own graduates this archaic system is giving rise to some practical problems as well as legal hassles it added for example many students graduating from st xaviers college autonomous with reasonably high marks fail to get seats in the calcutta university because of the undeclared 95 reservation for students from its affiliated colleges when the unofficial quota was introduced cu had justified it on the ground that its strict marking system would place its own graduates at a disadvantage while competing for pg seats cu holds admission tests to multidisciplinary pg courses while seats for the rest are filled on the basis of graduation marks the noquota rule once enforced will also apply on unitary universities such as jadavpur university and presidency among the arguments advanced by the government in favour of a pg entrance test is that everyone should get an equal opportunity as public money is spent on creating infrastructure in the universities