CU Admission Test Likely Before February Amid Election Preparations

The undergraduate admission test at Chittagong University (CU) for the 2025-26 academic year could be held at least two months earlier than last year. With the national election slated for February 2026, the university administration is mulling ways to conclude the process by late this year or in January. Officials said a decision on the test dates will be made at a meeting following the Chittagong University Central Students' Union (CUCSU) polls on October 15.

Last year's CU admission tests ran from March 1 to 22. But an election in February 2026 would make scheduling them then challenging. For the 2024-25 session, authorities held exams not only on the CU campus but also at Dhaka University and Rajshahi University.

Asked about a possible timeline, CU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury told The Daily Campus: "The admission test isn't my decision alone. We'll consult the core committee and opt for what's best for students and the university."

He added: "We don't want session jams for students. I'm out of Chittagong right now; I'll finalise this upon my return. Holding the test after a February election would delay things too much. I've started preliminary discussions with the pro-vice-chancellor (academic) to move quickly on this."

Online applications for CU's first-year honours admission in the 2024-25 session began on January 1 and closed on January 15. Last year, authorities raised the pass mark for quota candidates from 35 to 40 while tweaking the test format.

The application fee stood at Tk 1,000. Tests for each unit and sub-unit followed a 100-mark MCQ pattern, with 0.25 marks deducted for every wrong answer from the total score. For the 'C' unit, deductions were 0.25 for each incorrect 1-mark question and 0.50 for each 2-mark one.

The exams covered four units—A, B, C and D—plus three sub-units: B-1, B-2 and D-1. Unit A included all science, biological sciences, engineering, and marine sciences and fisheries faculties or institutes. Unit B covered nine subjects under arts and social sciences, plus education under the education faculty.

Sub-unit B-1 encompassed theatre and performance studies, fine arts and music under arts and social sciences. B-2 included Arabic, Islamic studies and Pali. Unit C covered all business administration departments, while Unit D included all social sciences subjects, law under the law faculty, geography and environment (for humanities students) under biological sciences, and psychology. Sub-unit D-1 added physical education and sports sciences under education.