Live Correspondent: The University Grants Commission of Bangladesh is in uncertainty over finalisation of the structure for holding a central admission test of the public universities in the coming academic year of 2020-21.

‘Now everything is uncertain. When the situation will get better, we will finalise the structure for the test,’ said the commission chairman Kazi Shahidullah pointing at the outbreak of coronavirus. Since 2010, discussions on a central admission test of the public universities were being held.

The commission on February 26 declared that 34 public universities would hold centralised admission tests in four clusters as the five major public universities — Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University,

and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology decided not to participate at the combined test which was proposed by the commission on February 12 for all the 46 public universities.

As per the decision, the test will be simultaneously held at all universities on a same day instead of the existing system under which students need to go to different universities across the country to take the entrance examinations.

The commission officials said that a meeting was scheduled for March 24 to finalise the leads for each of the clusters for coordination, the question patterns, and propose the admission test schedules so that the schedules would not clash.

But it could not be held for the prevailing situation. The five major universities were also supposed to inform the commission of their final decision on joining the central admission system.

Vice-chancellors of the universities were also asked to submit their admission test modules in writing to the commission by the end of March.

The commission chairman on Wednesday said that currently everyone was in fear in the prevailing situation. ‘The month of Ramadan is also approaching. I don’t understand what will happen this year,’ Shahidullah said.

He said that when the public holiday would be over, they would sit together to finalise the next programmes as per the situation.

Leaders of the Association of Universities of Bangladesh earlier said that the association had planned to hold admission tests of all of the public universities between October and December.

One of the four clusters will consist of 11 science and technology universities, nine general universities and Bangladesh Textile University, another cluster will comprise seven agricultural universities,

the third one will comprise three engineering universities — Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology and the last one will comprise Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Aviation and Aerospace University.

Four public medical universities would follow the admission test organised by the health ministry and the military operated Bangladesh University of the Professionals, National University, Open University and Islamic Arabic University would remain outside the clusters.

Dhaka April 01 (campuslive24.com)//az