Admission into public universities
Dewan S Arefeen, University of Toronto
After reading many letters on brain drain, I just couldn't help but write on the disparity faced by English medium students in getting into good public universities which offer subjects of their choice like biochemistry, genetic engineering, applied physics etc. As a result of the difficulty in getting into subjects of their choice many students go abroad or study in private universities which offer a very limited set of subjects, like BBA, computer science, English or Economics. One of the premier institutions is Dhaka University and from my experience many of the regulations and conditions make it extremely difficult for an English medium student to get into the subject of their choice in this university (and other public universities too). First of all, marks are blindly set by the official regulations which terms A as 80%, B 70%, C 60% and so on -- although many students obtain significantly higher marks. Secondly, students are forced to appear in an examination the syllabus of which is significantly different from the one that they studied. Third problem lies only with the Dhaka University test LAW, which states that if a candidate has appeared in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics in the HSC or "equivalent", one is obligated to appear in those only during the entrance test. However, for an English medium student who wants to study life science, would not it be more logical to give physics, chemistry, biology and English? So what's the point in stating all the malaise if there is no cure? I do have a simple solution to help those English medium students who want to study in our public universities. With the constant rise in the number of English medium students, it is imperative that our public universities and medical colleges conduct examinations with separate questions for English medium students which adhere to the English medium syllabus. Actual marks should be taken into account and this can be easily obtained by the authorities from the British Council. This is very important because of the immense competition during the entrance test in which losing a mark may mean going down 100 positions. Questions which will tickle the intellect should only be present and general knowledge questions like "What is the world's highest water fall?" (Asked in one of the medical college admission tests) should be avoided. Topics which are to be given during the entrance exams should be dependant on the examinee but not stated as a law; however to ensure only the right kind of students get into the right programme, the prerequisites of giving certain topics for certain programmes (as it is already set) should be in place. These are only few of the flaws that I noticed and others may have noticed more, so I sincerely urge the authorities to do some research in solving the problems and look into the matter seriously.
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