The Dhaka University authorities have decided to raise the application fees for admission test by another Tk 350 to Tk 1,000 in the upcoming academic session.
The decision was initially made at a meeting of the university’s Deans Committee on Wednesday. The meeting also decided to hold intake tests for 2021-22 session at the divisional cities from 3 June.
The application fees for admission test was Tk 350 until 2018-19 session. The authorities hiked the fees to Tk 450 in 2019-20 session, and to Tk 650 in 2020-21.
For the latest hike, the DU authorities said that they could not meet the costs of admission tests with the fees collected from the admission seekers in the previous year.
Claiming that there is no intention of making profit with the students’ fees, DU vice-chancellor professor Md Akhtaruzzaman told Prothom Alo, “Our spending is much higher as we arrange admission tests at the divisional cities. We had to provide a good sum of subsidy in the previous year (2020-21 session). This year, the spending could be higher than the estimated amount.”
The DU VC quoted the deans as saying that it would be appropriate if the fee was fixed at Tk 1,200 or Tk 1,300.
“Keeping the students’ interest in mind, I’ve said that the amount in no way can be increased above Tk 1,000. The teachers would sacrifice (their portion) so that it requires no subsidy. They have to discharge many duties without any honorarium,” said professor Akhtaruzzaman.
He categorically stated that there is no scope of making profit at Dhaka University.
Meanwhile, the deans committee meeting decided to relax qualifications to apply for admission tests.
The online application process for admission test will begin on 20 April and continue until 10 May.
In this regard, a final recommendation will be made at the meeting of the general admission committee on Thursday.
It is worth mentioning that the DU held admission tests at the divisional cities for the first time in the previous year amid the Covid-19 pandemic and hiked the fee by Tk 200 citing increased spending.