Staff Correspondent

The three more universities will join the cluster admission tests for the 2023-24 academic session.

The new universities are --Kurigram Agriculture University, Sunamganj University of Science and Technology and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University of Science and Technology in Pirojpur.

Now, a total of 35 public universities will hold cluster admission tests this year while it was 32 for the academic year 2022-23.

The decision was taken after a meeting on the cluster-based entry tests for public universities at the UGC building on Sunday.

Chaired by UGC Chairman (Additional Charge) Prof Dr Muhammad Alamgir, vice chancellors of 32 public universities of agriculture and science and technology clusters were present in the meeting.

Prof Alamgir said the UGC does not want to impose any decision on any universities; it is working to maintain the independence and identity of universities.

The UGC chairman said that a committee would soon be constituted to create a framework for conducting a single admission test for all universities under the National Testing Authority (NTA).

Besides, the UGC chairman also suggested the formation of a committee to determine the timing for the admission test of the cluster universities to ensure financial transparency.

Meanwhile, the vice chancellors of universities under the engineering cluster were not called to this meeting as the date of the admission test for the cluster has already been announced.

UGC members Professor Dr Md Sajjad Hossain, Professor Dr Md Abu Taher, Professor Dr Hasina Khan, and UGC Secretary Dr Ferdous Zaman were also present at the meeting.