KARACHI, Nov 20: The Karachi University (KU) administration finally issued a notification on Thursday to end a controversy triggered by flaws in the entry tests for MS/PhD admissions, stating that the revised merit list would be released on Nov 22 “with corrections incorporated as per rules”.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by KU acting Vice-Chancellor Dr Ikhlaq Ahmad.

It was unanimously decided that the previous merit list displayed on the university’s website on Nov 17 be kept in abeyance while a revised merit list be issued after incorporating corrections.

The merit list will now be based on the names of those candidates who have scored 50 per cent or above marks in the National Testing Services (NTS) test. The merit calculation will be made by giving 60 per cent weight to the marks obtained in the last degree and 40 per cent weight to the NTS score. The new merit list will be placed on the university’s website on Saturday evening.

According to the notification, provisional admission will be granted against the available seats as per the requirement provided by the chairpersons/directors of the relevant departments/institutes.

The selected candidates will be required to complete all formalities regarding admission, including submission of fees and relevant documents, by Dec 15. It may be recalled that there has been a lot of criticism of the KU administration for involving a private organization, the NTS, into the admission process of the KU MS/PhD progammes in recent months. Not only candidates had to pay double fees, Rs500 to the university and Rs600 to the NTS, but also many ineligible candidates lost their fees due to a lack of coordination between the two institutions. As many as 300 to 400 ineligible students turned up on the admission day that witnessed a complete mismanagement.

Later, the administration issued a flawed list on Nov 17 that did not include the names of many candidates who had actually passed the NTS test. A protest by teachers and the concerned students forced the administration to withdraw the list and issue a revised one.