Cluster admission tests in 19 univs: Requirements and marks distribution
There will be exam centers in every university and students will be allowed to pick the center of their choice
The 19 public universities which decided to hold the admission tests for the 2020-2021 academic session in the cluster system have set the rules for holding the examinations. The students will take a 100-mark Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) exam to get into the universities of their choices.
The entry tests will be held for students under three groups -- humanities, commerce and science. There would be no separate examination for changing the groups this year under the cluster system.
The students will be able to enroll in departments of their choice based on the result of a single admission test.
Jagannath University vice chancellor Mizanur Rahman, who is also the joint convener of the committee formed over the cluster examination system confirmed the development to Prothom Alo.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of VCs of 19 universities on Saturday.
The meeting, however, did not fix the dates of the examinations.
The meeting decided that the three exams would be held in three days once the coronavirus situation gets normal. There would be exam centers in every university and students would be allowed to pick the center of their choice.
The minimum required CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) for humanities group is 6. The required CGPA is 6.5 for commerce group while minimum requirement of CGPA in SSC and HSC exams is CGPA-7 for science group. No students with a CPGA of less than 3 points in either SSC or HSC would be allowed to sit for exams
Qualification and distribution of marks
JU VC Mizanur Rahman said the students who passed HSC and equivalent exams in 2019 and 2020 would be allowed to sit for the entry tests. The minimum required CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) for humanities group is 6. The required CGPA is 6.5 for commerce group while minimum requirement of CGPA in SSC and HSC exams is CGPA-7 for science group. No students with a CPGA of less than 3 points in either SSC or HSC would be allowed to sit for exams.
He said the humanities group exam would consist of 40 marks in Bangla, 35 in English and 25 in ICT. For commerce group students, the distribution of marks would be 25 in accounting, 25 in management, 25 in language (13 in Bangla and 12 in English) and 25 in ICT. The science group exam would have the following marks distribution: 20 in language (10 each in Bangla and English), 20 each in physics and chemistry and rest of marks in two topics among ICT, Mathematics and Biology.
The VCs of 19 universities decided to hold cluster exams for the first time at a meeting with the University Grants Commission (UGC) on 1 December. Earlier agriculture universities took cluster exams for enrollment.
The 19 universities are: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Islamic University, Khulna University, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Jagannath University, Comilla University, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Pabna University of Science and Technology, Begum Rokeya University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, University of Barishal, Rangamati Science and Technology University, Rabindra University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University, Sheikh Hasina University and Bangamata Sheikh Fojilatunnesa Mujib Science and Technology University.
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology’s VC Farid Uddin Ahmed said the students would be able to take part in entry tests for the second time.
But it’s up to the universities to decide if they would admit the students who took the entry test for a second time, he added.