West Bengal UG admission 2026 begins via WBCAP; colleges revert to 7% OBC quota

West Bengal Centralised Admission Portal (WBCAP) under West Bengal State Council of Higher Education(WBSCHE) has started the application process for the admissions in undergraduate courses across government-aided and state-linked higher education institutions through its centralised admission framework. The state has simultaneously moved to restore older OBC reservation norms for admissions.

Candidates who want to apply for undergraduate courses can visit WBCAP official website, wbcap.in. The application process for UG admissions began on May 19, 2026 at 2:30 PM and registrations will close on June 1, 2026 at 11:59 PM for undergraduate courses across 460 government and aided general degree colleges and higher education institutions in West Bengal.

Students who have passed Class 12 or equivalent examinations from recognised boards can apply online without any application fee and select up to 25 courses.

As per the WBSCHE official announcement the framework is intended to reduce multiple admissions by one candidate and streamline seat allocation.

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The announcement also clarified that Presidency University, Jadavpur University, autonomous colleges, minority institutions, training colleges, law colleges, engineering, pharmacy, nursing, medical institutions and self-financing/private colleges remain outside this centralised admission structure.

West Bengal UG Admission: OBC reservation reset

Prior to admission the Bengal government has moved back to the 2010 OBC reservation norms, reducing reservation in colleges and universities from 17 per cent to 7 per cent.

As per the backward classes welfare department official notice the recognised state OBC list now consists of 66 classes, compared to 140 classes that were earlier covered under the expanded reservation system.

A report by Telegraph said that a large share of the 74 sub-castes that have now been removed from the reservation list are from muslim communities.

The report further said that Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee confirmed the university would admit students based on the reservation framework communicated by the state government, while Presidency University also indicated it would follow the latest order in the admission process.

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West Bengal UG Admission 2026: Timeline

The complete timeline for the West Bengal undergraduate admissions is shown in below table:

As per WBSCHE, students will receive system-generated updates through SMS and email, while their application status will also be visible through personal dashboards.