Admission to public varsities
Combined test likely from next year
The government is committed to introducing the combined system of admission test in all public universities from next year, considering hassles faced by students and guardians during admission to public universities. The chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Prof. Abdul Mannan, said yesterday that some public universities, in particular agricultural universities, have agreed to introduce the combined system of admission test from next year. Prof. Mannan said this while inaugurating a two-day long international seminar on Strategies for Sustainable Research and Education Networks, organised by Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP), at Dhaka Club in the capital. He was the chief guest. We have been informed by the Presidents office to look into the matter of introducing the combined system of admission test in all universities to reduce the hardship of students. A meeting will be held by December with all the vice-chancellors, he added. Sources said an initiative had been taken seven years ago to reduce hassles of students and guardians by introducing a uniform exam system to get admission as
per merit. At present, only the medical colleges have the uniform system of exams. Students appear for one test only from his or her area of medical college and are selected as per merit.
The same was thought for all public universities in 2010 to introduce a uniform admission system, or cluster system, but no progress was made, except some meetings over tea and crackers. Under the system, examinees will sit for an admission test once and get admission to universities. The system will save the cost of fees, accommodation, transport and so on. But attempts by the education ministry ended in smoke, as some public universities opposed the cluster system, saying it would cut their income from selling admission forms. On November 2 last year, even President Abdul Hamid had proposed introducing the combined system admission test to reduce sufferings of admission seekers, particularly female students, but nothing came of it. The president said entrance exams of each university are held separately and the students need to move from one district to another. This requires a lot of money, and the students and guardians suffer the worst for accommodation, transport and food. He also directed the education ministry and the UGC to take steps in this regard.
Although the ministry took some initiatives, the autonomous public universities did not respond favourably. The UGC chairman said the matter has now assumed greater importance as the President himself recently directed through his secretary that measures be taken in this regard. Research and Education Network (BdREN) began its journey in 2012, with a pilot network connecting five public universities and one private university. Now, at least 39 public and private universities are connected through high-speed Internet. The project will end in December 2018. The UGC chairman said: The network has connected the universities both internally and externally with other universities globally, providing access to learning material.
The international seminar was addressed by the vice-chancellor of Asia Pacific University, Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, educationist Prof. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and the senior operations officer of the World Bank, Mokhlesur Rahman. Zafar Iqbal said: Teachers now cannot say that they dont have material to carry out research. The network has enabled them to various reading material, including new journals.
