Public universities can accommodate only half of successful HSC candidates
Over half of the students who came out successful in this year's HSC and equivalent examinations will be denied enrolment at the public universities due to shortage of seats.
According to the latest annual report of the University Grants Commission, 229,491 students this year will get the opportunity to enrol at 31 public universities for honours courses.
Besides, 2,712 seats are available at 18 public medical colleges, 300 in three public dental colleges, 3,350 in 45 private medical colleges and 680 in 12 private dental colleges, say sources in the Directorate General of Health Services.
The rest of the successful HSC examinees will have to go to private universities, or study honours or degree (pass) courses at government and non-government colleges and vocational institutions, say education ministry officials.
However, all these candidates will have to vie for university seats also with a large number of successful examinees of last year's HSC exams.
With the pass rate increasing every year, higher education is becoming a matter of great concern for the nation as seats are not relatively increasing.
As many as 574,261 students or record 75.01 percent have come out successfully in this year's Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations under 10 education boards -- eight general, one madrasa and one technical board.
The results were published on Wednesday.
Of the successful students, 39,769 achieved the highest GPA-5 (Grade Point Average) and 163,240 did well scoring between GPA-4 and GPA-5.
The numbers of successful students and GPA-5 scorers have increased sharply this year.
The students willing to study at the top public universities including Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Chittagong University and public medical and dental colleges will have to go through a really tough competition.
In Dhaka University last year, 25 to 30 students vied for each of the over 5,000 seats, said acting registrar Syed Rezaur Rahman. In Buet, around 5,500 students vied for one of the university's 965 seats last year, said Pro-vice-chancellor Prof M Habibur Rahman.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the government is aware of the shortage of seats at the public universities and is considering launch of new universities to meet the increasing demand.
"Three new universities -- Barisal University, Gopalganj Bangabandhu Science and Technology University, and Textiles University -- will start academic activities this year and the HSC passed students will be able to apply for enrolment," said Nahid.
The minister said it is fact that a section of students will get the opportunity to enrol at the top public universities and medical colleges through competitive examinations. Others can go to the government colleges as there are a large number of seats there, he added.
An official of the National University said around two lakh students will be able to study the honours courses in nearly 250 colleges under the university in next session.
Around five to ten percent seats have been increased this year in those 250 colleges to meet the demand, said Faizul Karim, acting director of the NU public relations office.
Immediate past chairman of the University Grants Commission Prof Nazrul Islam of Dhaka University said established public universities should increase seats to meet the present demand.
Prof Nazrul sees two types of crisis ahead of the candidates -- shortage of seats and lack of standard education in several institutions.
Currently, 54 private universities are running academic activities in the country. However, a few of these provide quality education, while several government-run university colleges cannot maintain the standard due to different crises including lack of teachers and infrastructural facilities, Prof Nazrul observed.
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