Public univs asked to follow cluster admission system

The education ministry has asked the concerned public universities to hold admission tests for the next academic session under the cluster system for avoiding confusions among students and their guardians.

A letter signed by education ministry Deputy Secretary Md Shahinur Islam “requested” vice-chancellors of the universities to follow the 1 December government order on retaining the cluster system in view of the overall situation.

During the Awami League regime, 36 public universities were brought under the cluster admission test system -- a centrally-controlled system to evaluate test scripts and allocate seats to admission seekers. Three separate clusters allocated seats in general universities plus science-technology universities, engineering universities and agricultural universities to streamline and smoothen the process.

However, many officials of the selected universities felt the system increased academic hassles, and that it was forced on them.

After the fall of the Awami League government in a mass uprising on 5 August, at least four of the 36 universities, including Jagannath University, Cumilla University of Science and Technology (CUET) and Chattogram University of Science and Technology (CHUET), publicly left the clustered group, announcing their own admission test schedules.