The University of Dhaka (DU) administration has taken a preliminary decision to prepare a separate question paper for English-medium students sitting for the Science Unit undergraduate admission test for the 2026–27 academic year.
However, allegations have emerged that the controversial move is being pursued without any specific policy or feasibility study.
Experts say that, beyond providing an advantage to a particular group of students, introducing such a system would create serious inequality between English-medium students and those who complete their Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations under the national curriculum.
They also warned that if special provisions are made for English-medium students, students from madrasa, technical and other education boards could also demand separate question papers in the future. Implementing separate examinations for each educational stream would be impractical and could create considerable disorder for the university.
According to university sources, the proposal received preliminary approval at a meeting of the Academic Council, the university’s highest policy-making body on academic matters, held on August 23 (Sunday). The matter is scheduled to be placed before the Syndicate at its meeting on August 31 (Monday) for a final decision.
Before reaching the Academic Council, the proposal was discussed at the Deans’ Committee, the General Admission Committee and the academic committees of the relevant departments. If approved by the Syndicate, the decision will become final.
However, several reliable sources in the Academic Council said Professor Dr Mofazzal Rahman of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) verbally submitted a “note of dissent” against the decision. Several other teachers present at the meeting subsequently expressed agreement with his position.
Teachers opposed to the decision argue that the fundamental purpose of an admission test is to assess whether a student possesses the basic qualifications required to study at the university. Preparing separate question papers based on a particular curriculum or educational background, they say, would therefore be highly discriminatory.
Professor Dr Mofazzal Rahman told Daily Waadaa, “The matter is completely unreasonable. I will submit a written note of dissent before the Syndicate meeting. If one particular educational stream is given an advantage, students from other boards will make the same demand. Moreover, there is no specific policy explaining how or through what process the results of candidates from the two streams will be standardised.”
Waadaa spoke to several chairpersons and professors from departments under the Faculty of Science. All of them opposed the decision.
One teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal was discussed at their academic committee meeting after the Deans’ Committee meeting.
“When several of us opposed it, we were told that since the respected deans had taken such a decision, we should not raise objections,” the teacher said. “At the same time, we were not clearly informed about the policy under which the process would be implemented.”
According to several teachers who spoke on condition of anonymity, supporters of the decision argue that English-medium students often leave the country because they do not get opportunities at local universities, contributing to a “brain drain”.
A teacher from the Department of Physics, however, dismissed the argument as baseless.
“Will enrolling them and keeping them here for four or five years really stop brain drain?” the teacher asked. “Those who intend to go abroad after completing their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees will go anyway. This short-sighted decision will not reduce inequality; rather, it will create severe disorder in the admission process.”
According to sources, the Science Faculty’s admission test committee is led by the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and includes four to five deans.
However, inquiries found that none of the deans was aware of any specific policy governing the proposed system.
Professor Abdul Karim, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Biological Sciences, and Professor Upoma Kabir, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, said that although the decision had been discussed at the Academic Council, no policy had yet been formulated and no committee had been formed to work out the details.
Asked about the matter, Professor Dr Mofazzal Hossain, Dean of the Faculty of Science, declined to comment.
“This process is coordinated under the leadership of Professor Dr Selim Khan, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, and he is the right person to speak on this matter. The rest of us are simply co-coordinators,” he said.
Several attempts were made to obtain comments from Professor Dr Selim Khan, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, but he declined to comment, citing his busy schedule.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Dr Abdus Salam said the decision was taken at the Academic Council after discussions in all committees related to the admission examination.
He claimed that the decision had been taken unanimously by all teachers involved in the examination process and that the new arrangement would be conducted under the general rules governing admission tests.
However, he acknowledged that no special committee had been formed to formulate a separate policy for the process.
A former vice-chancellor of the university, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Academic Council had the sole authority to make such a decision and that decisions were taken based on the views of the majority of its members.
However, the former vice-chancellor said any major change of this nature requires a feasibility study conducted over a considerable period of time.
The university administration has argued that the Faculty of Business Studies already has a separate question system for English-medium students and that this has created a need for a similar arrangement in other admission units.
However, an analysis of the admission guidelines for the 2025–26 academic year for the unit shows a disparity in the existing system.
Under the national curriculum, students are required to answer questions from five subjects in the multiple-choice section, carrying a total of 60 marks. English-medium students, on the other hand, are given the option to answer questions from only four subjects.
They also have one fewer subject in the written examination.
Thus, even the system that the administration cites as an example of the need for separate arrangements contains what critics describe as a clear instance of unequal treatment.
Students at Dhaka University have strongly protested the proposed decision.
Tahsin Parvez, a student of the Department of Economics, said the founding philosophy of Dhaka University was to keep the doors of higher education open to talented students from all sections of society.
“Technical terminology may justify translating the question paper into English, but conducting examinations with two completely different sets of questions clearly creates an opportunity for unequal competition,” he said.
Maruf Hossain, a student of the Department of Statistics, said around 150,000 students from the national curriculum would sit for the admission test, compared with only 2,000 to 5,000 English-medium candidates.
“Yet we may see 500 to 1,000 students from that group securing admission, while the total number of seats itself is around 1,500,” he said. “Under these circumstances, how can equality between two different systems be ensured? Ultimately, it will be students from the mainstream national curriculum who will have to bear the cost.”