The university faces the usual problems that a newly created university would: establishing its own identity and credibility.

“If the students have an option they will definitely prefer to study in a college affiliated to CU,” said Anup Dutta Gupta, professor of zoology, Bidhannagar College.

The principal of Bidhannagar College, however, is trying to adjust with their new identity.

“A student will seek admission to our college based on its performance and not because of its affiliation,” said Deepak Ranjan Mondal, principal of Bidhannagar College.

The authorities of CU, however, are of the opinion that even after the creation of WBSU, the students from North 24 Parganas will take admissions in colleges under CU.

The principal of Rishi Bankim Chandra evening college at Naihati, Debasish Bhowmick said: “Initially, students with high marks might not seek admission to the colleges under WBSU but decentralisation will make way for better co-ordination and more postgraduate courses in the colleges.”

As for the grants from the University Grants Commission (UGC), WBSU has to wait for another year and has to make do with Rs 15 crore assigned to them by the state government.

As yet, the university has got the approval from UGC under its 2(F) clause, which enables the colleges to run undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

“In order to get grants from the UGC, the university will approach the commission under the clause 12(B), explaining them about the infrastructure and facilities in detail. This will be followed by a visit of the UGC team,” said Ashoke Ranjan Thakur, Vice-Chancellor of WBSU.

The university, meanwhile, is focusing on starting more postgraduate courses and has asked the affiliated colleges to come up with proposals by this month.

“The university has asked the higher education department for four faculties in each department. We are trying to set up 32 postgraduate departments for which we require 128 faculties,” said the Vice-Chancellor.