DU to take admission tests offline, cuts marks by half

Dhaka University will hold admission tests in divisional cities across the country this year to ensure the safety of admission seekers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The university also decided to reduce total marks by half to 100, reports UNB.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Deans' Committee on Tuesday. DU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman presided over the meeting.

"We’ve decided not to hold online admission tests,” DU Pro-VC (academic) Prof ASM Maksud Kamal said after the meeting.

"The university will set up examinationi centres in each divisional city to enroll first-year honours students," Prof ASM Maksud Kamal said.

The schedule for admission tests hinges on the publication of HSC results, he said.

Sources at the meeting said that out of the 100 marks, 20 marks will be reserved to evaluate each aspirant on the basis of results of School Secondary Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC).

Previously, 80 marks were allotted to evaluate SSC and HSC results.

Admission tests will be held on 80 marks. Deans' Committee members, declining to be named, said that 50 would likely be kept for the written test and 30 for MCQ test.

These were 45 and 75 in the last academic session respectively.

Prof Sadeka Halim, dean of the Social Science faculty, said that the distribution of newly-set 80 marks has not been determined but they would prioritise more on the written part.

The minimum criteria for applying into different units (A/B/C/D) have also remained the same like previous year.

The HSC results are usually published in the first week of May. The universities hold entry tests from the second week of September till the end of November. But this year, HSC results will be published in December, while dates for admission tests of different public universities will be set later.

This year, all 1.3 million HSC examinees will pass. It will basically make all of them eligible to sit for university admission tests.

There are currently 60,000 available seats at 39 public universities in the country.