Inadequate seats to frustrate many
Admission to public varsities
HARUN UR RASHID
About 95 per cent students who passed this years Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations wont be able to get admitted to 32 public universities due to seat crisis. On Average, a little over 17 admission seekers will have to vie for one seat as the 32 universities, excepting the National University and the Open University, have only 42,984 seats as against 738,872 students who passed the HSC and equivalent examinations this year. Although there are 37 public universities, two are yet to start functioning while the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University does not take admission in graduation level. The students who will fail to qualify in the highly competitive tests for admission to public universities will have to opt for private universities. However, many private universities do not have proper infrastructure and resources to provide quality education at the tertiary level.
According to University Grants Commission (UGC) estimate, the 37 public universities have 521,184 seats in the 2015-2016 academic year. Among them, there are 12 general universities which have 27,812 seats: Dhaka University has 7,002 seats, Rajshahi University 4,000, Chittagong university 4,650, Jahangirnagar University 2,500, Islami University 1,465, Khulna University 1,037, Jagannath University 2,850, Comilla University 1,010, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University 675, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, 1,258 and Barisal University has 1,365 seats. Four agriculture universities offer 2,425 seats.
There are 14 science and technology universities that have 11,517 seats.
The maximum number of seats are under the National University -- 4,44,200 -- and the Bangladesh Open University has 34,000 seats.
A total of 275 government colleges and about 2,000 private colleges are affiliated with the National University. Generally, when students dont get admission in other universities, they opt for the National University. In addition, the Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University has 210 seats, the Bangladesh Textile University 440 and the University of Professionals has 580 seats.
However, of the 37 public universities, the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University does not have any honours course, the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University has not started any honours course and the Islamic Arabic University has recently begun academic activities.
Besides, there are two international universities. The Islamic University of Technology has 425 seats and the Asian University for Women 120.
According to the data of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), there are 93 medical colleges -- public and private -- with a total of 9,112 seats. Of them, 29 public medical colleges have 3,162 and 64 private medical colleges have 5,950 seats for admission to the MBBS course.
On the other hand, there are 83 private universities which have around three lakh seats.
This year, 7,38,872 students passed the HSC and equivalent exams under 10 education boards. Besides, 20 to 25 per cent students who passed out in the HSC exams last year will try for admission the second time. Last year, 8,85,070 students passed the HSC and equivalent exams.
Dhaka University has barred admission-seekers from sitting for test for the second time since last year. Admission-seekers have filed a case and the final decision will be announced after the hearing on August 16.
UGC chairman Professor Abdul Mannan said: We have resource constraint and many universities fail to impart proper education. Many universities dont have enough skilled teachers. As a result, they are incapable of providing quality education.
