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KARACHI, Oct 20: Facing a storm of criticism over the NTS (National Testing Services) entry test fiasco that occurred on Sunday, Karachi University’s high-ups will debate the issue of beginning admission tests for the bachelors’ morning programme on Tuesday at its academic council meeting. Also on the agenda is the proposal to allow NTS to conduct these tests.
A majority of the teachers are critical of the administration’s sudden decision to allow a private organisation to carry out admission tests, especially for KU graduates aspiring for MS and PhD programmes, as they see it as an attempt to discredit their institution. The pre-entry tests were held for the first time.
Talking to Dawn, a senior university professor said: “We fail to understand that why the university administration allowed a private organisation to give pre-entry test for the MS and PhD programmes. Most of the applicants were KU graduates. It means we are discrediting our own institution.”
About the NTS, he said the organisation had a dubious record. “Nobody knows about the origin of the NTS. It is also not clear as to why and under what conditions the Higher Education Commission allowed the NTS to give tests in public-sector universities. It makes sense when foreign universities give tests to our graduates, but how come we are not ready to accept the degrees of our own students.
“By allowing the NTS, the HEC has only showed that it has no trust in the institutions operating under it. The KU administration should make public the agreement the institution has signed with the commission over the NTS issue.”
Voicing similar apprehensions, Dr Aqeel Ahmed, a member of the academic council and the Board of Advanced Studies and Research that approved the pre-entry tests for MS and PhD programmes, said: “We did approve pre-entry tests for the MS and PhD programmes, but nowhere did we say that the NTS would hold them.”
However, he admitted that the board at its last meeting had agreed that the university would be authorised either to conduct the pre-entry tests itself or take the assistance of any other organisation. “The actual words of what was agreed upon have been manipulated. We say why can’t the university give the tests? A large majority of university applicants are poor and can’t afford double fees.” The final decision about the NTS, he said, was taken by the vice-chancellor, the registrar and the deans of faculties of arts and science. He claimed that a majority of the teachers were against the introduction of the NTS for holding pre-entry tests.
“The decision has been taken in haste. First, KU teachers were asked to set question papers and they did so free of cost as it was part of their job. But, due to certain reasons the idea was dropped and the NTS was involved. The NTS again asked KU teachers to prepare question papers and paid them Rs100 per question for the job.
“The thinking being developed is that there is no value of the job which teachers do for the university for free. Secondly, a private organisation will leave once it is over with the tests, but the teachers have to deal with students for a long period. This reason is good enough that should compel the administration to take the responsibility of pre-entry tests.”
Mismanagement
A number of students aspiring for KU’s MS and PhD programmes had to endure a lot of trouble on Sunday. Acute mismanagement can be gauged from the fact that from 300 to 400 ineligible students turned up for the test that began after a delay of over two hours.
Many of them lost their fees, which was non-refundable. About 2,000 students took the test.
A girl applicant told Dawn: “I was declared ineligible by the university, but on Friday I received a call from the NTS and was told to deposit the fee. I felt happy and thought that perhaps the university had reviewed its earlier decision and I submitted the fees online. But when I arrived for the test I was told that my name was not on the list.”
Each applicant deposited Rs500 with the university, and the NTS charged Rs600 for the test. The process continued even on Sunday when the test was scheduled. The director of the admission committee, Prof Dr Saleem Shehzad, refused to comment on the pre-entry tests for bachelors’ programme before the academic council’s meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
