LAHORE, Sept 24: Thousands of graduates from colleges affiliated with the Punjab University cannot compete with their peers from institutions which enjoy a degree awarding status for admission to MA/MSc classes on open merit chiefly due to heaps of marks scored by the latter, thanks to the semester system.

There is a difference of 100 aggregate marks between the semester system and the annual examination system.

The Punjab University had decided in principle last year, when the problem first surfaced, to fix 12.5 per cent quota for the students who graduated from autonomous institutions.

However, the Punjab government had stopped the university from implementing its decision, directing it to follow the previous open merit policy.

The criterion introduced by the university for semester system graduates consisted of multiplication of his/her total marks with 0.90 to bring these students on a par with their peers from “less privileged institutions”, who had been through the annual examination system. But this also helped most of the semester system graduates in getting admission to the MA\MSc classes.

The Punjab Public Service Commission, it may be mentioned, has devised a formula under which it multiplies the marks of the semester system candidates for all subjects with 0.82 which helps the PPSC to remove the discrepancy to bring them on equal terms with the students who graduate through the annual system.

At the time of admissions to the post-graduate departments this year, the university multiplied marks obtained by the semester system graduates with 0.85 to further rationalize the formula as well as to provide a better chance of admission to students who had taken the annual examination.

“But this made little difference,” a PU official said. He said those who did their BA/BSc under the semester system still enjoyed a big advantage over other students.

The admission committee chairman, Prof Dil Muhammad Malik, said that the criterion was set after studying all aspects to make open merit possible. He said the students from the far flung areas, however, should not be compared with the students of renowned colleges and deserved to be given certain concessions for admission.

Punjab university registrar Masudul Haq said that the criterion would give equal opportunity to both annual and semester system degree holders. He said the first merit list had been displayed and the number of semester system graduates would be known after the display of the final merit list.

A student completes his/her post-graduation from the Punjab University in around Rs13,000. And those from autonomous colleges, including Lahore College for Women University, pay about Rs36,000, the Government College Lahore University about Rs30,000 and the Kinnaird College costs about Rs100,000.

LCWU vice-chancellor Dr Bushra Mateen, however, claimed that the standard of the Punjab University would deteriorate if the university fixed a quota for the graduates of students belonging to autonomous institutions.