KARACHI: KU delays session: Revised admission list today
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 30: The University of Karachi on Friday announced to delay the commencement of its academic session till January 7 as it was issuing second list of admissions, which was not witnessed at least during the last ten years.
Sources in the campus attributed the unprecedented development to some outside forces, while according to the officials the decision was made in view of the ground realities. It is likely that in the second run about 400 students would be getting admissions to departments of biological sciences and to the faculty of pharmacy, added the sources.
According to KU press release, teaching for the new session will begin from Jan 7, instead of Jan 2. After completion of admissions to medical and engineering education institutions, a revised list of admissions for Honours-science programmes has been prepared, under which students whose names are included in the new or revised list can deposit their fees from Jan 3 to 5, 2006, added the press release.
It further added that the revised admission list would be displayed on Dec 31 at the KU’s Silver Jubilee Gate.
Students who have already secured admissions at different departments of the KU but included in the new list will be required to submit their applications to the KU admission committee up to Jan 5.
After two separate processes of admissions, about 2,200 students have already finalized admissions in the honours programmes while about 1,900 in the masters’ programmes.
However, all of a sudden, the vice-chancellor on the recommendation of members of the admission committee and deans on Friday agreed to reopen the admission process and as such there are possibilities of a sizable reshuffling of students from one department to another, said a senior teacher, adding that this was nothing but tantamount to opening the Pandora’s box.
Another source said that since admissions to pharmacy departments remained considerably low, the KU had to reopen the admission process to get some more students. It is likely that about 200 students already admitted would be relocated to some new departments in line with the priorities of departments set by the candidates in the admission forms, added the source.
It was further learnt that about 400 students who had applied earlier but could not be included in the first list in view of their merits would now be included in the new admission list.
When contacted, the director of KU admission committee, Dr Shakil Ahmad Khan, said that the decision to issue a revised admission list comprising those already admitted and those failed to get a place in the first list was taken after detailed discussion.
The purpose was to provide an opportunity to the leftover students on seats which become vacant or could not be filled in the first run due to the fact that a good number of students opted for government medical colleges, he added.
He said that students already admitted were also being included in the revised lists in order to give them admissions as per their top priorities. All such students would be at the liberty to either opt to the newly allocated departments or remain with the departments where they have already finalized their admissions, he mentioned.
However, some KU teachers expressed their dissatisfaction over the varsity’s stance. They were of the view that the varsity should not compromise on its traditions and long observed system of admissions. Flexibility does not only harm the image and discipline of a good university but also reduces the chances of fairness some time, the teachers added.
Some quarters were also of the view that the varsity should not delay the commencement of the academic session as the process of new admissions or relocation of students was not a daunting task.
