Dhaka University, Rajshahi University also not to hold combined admission tests

The academic councils of Dhaka University and Rajshahi University are set to hold separate meetings on Monday after deciding not to involve themselves in the combined admission tests proposed by the University Grants Commission and the University Council from the next academic year.

The academic council members unanimously decided not to continue its conventional admission test system for upholding its tradition and gave the proposed combined admission tests for all the public universities, Dhaka University vice chancellor M Aktaruzzaman, reported New Age Dhaka University correspondent.

Several academic council members told New Age that they argued at the meeting that participating at the combined admission system would appear as a trouble for picking the best students in 84 multidisciplinary departments.

‘Who will conduct the combined admission test for over million admission seekers centrally? Is the grants commission equipped to hold such a massive level of admission test across the country? We don’t think so,’ said Dhaka University professor M Wahiduzzaman.

‘Introducing such admission test also contradicts the concept of autonomy of the public universities,’ he added.

Rajshahi University academic council in a meeting on Monday at the university decided to hold the admission test independently.

However, RU VC M Abdus Sobhan, attending the February 12 meeting of the University Council, a platform of the vice chancellors of the public universities, agreed to hold the central admission tests along with 31 public universities.

RU VC could not be contacted for his comment.

Social science faculty dean Fakhrul Islam said that the VC should not have made such promise at the University Council meeting in Dhaka without taking opinion of the academic council, reported RU correspondent of New Age.

The academic council members at the meeting gave opinion that there would be a chance for question paper leaks in such a large scale admission test through UGC, Fakhrul said.

Earlier, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, in an academic council meeting on Wednesday, decided to stick to its conventional admission test, arguing that it would best serve the purpose of ‘picking the most meritorious students.’

Chittagong University vice-chancellor Shireen Akhter said that she would disclose the position of the university regarding the combined admission test after holding a meeting with prime minister Sheikh Hasina first and only then would she make it public.

Several teachers of the university, however, confirmed that it would follow on the footsteps of DU, BUET, and RU.

Jahangirnagar university teachers said that the university’s academic council in its February 16 meeting could not make any decision. But, they said, the university called another council meeting today to make the same decision as taken by DU, RU, BUET and CU.

The University Council president Kamal Uddin Ahamed, also vice-chancellor of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, however, still hopeful of holding a central admission test in the academic year involving the remaining other public universities.

The UGC chairman Kazi Shahidullah said that he would invite all the vice-chancellors of the 46 public universities on February 26 at his office to get them to make a decision.

‘We must start the central admission test system to ease the sufferings of the pupils and their parents who need to move from one place to another for admission tests at different universities located at different corners of the country,’ he said.

President Md Abdul Hamid, the chancellor of all universities of the country, also suggested that the public universities should hold central admission to reduce public harassments.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net