KU faces heat over admission quotas

Other varsities also restrict seats through district quotas; Karachi allocated limited slots

KARACHI:

A growing social media campaign pressuring the University of Karachi to scrap its admission quotas and categories has triggered a wider debate in Sindh's academic circles, with questions being raised over why the university alone is being asked to abandon a policy that is also followed, in varying forms, by other public-sector universities across the province.

The controversy has prompted educationists to examine whether students from Karachi enjoy unrestricted access to public universities elsewhere in Sindh, or whether institutions apply their own district-based preferences and admission quotas.

Figures relating to the University of Karachi's 2026 academic session show that 1,815 students from districts outside Karachi were offered admission to four-year BS programmes in December 2025. Of these, 1,018 were enrolled in the first year, against a total intake of 9,691 students for the session. Students from other districts already studying in the second, third and fourth years are additional to these figures. The current pressure, however, relates specifically to admissions in the university's Law Department.

The report notes that Dean of Law Barrister Sarfraz Mitlo, appointed by the Sindh chief minister as the university's controlling authority, has himself publicly questioned the admission policy approved by the university's Academic Council, triggering debate over the issue on social media.

Meanwhile, admission policies obtained by The Express Tribune indicate that several public universities in Sindh give preference to applicants from their respective cities or districts before considering candidates from other parts of the province for remaining seats.

Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari has an even more geographically restrictive arrangement. Under its governing Act, 50 per cent of seats are reserved for students from four Karachi districts - Keamari, Lyari, Gadap and Malir - while the remaining half is open to students from other Karachi districts and across Sindh. The university is bound by this provision unless the Act is amended.

The allocation of seats for Karachi students at other public universities also highlights the disparity. Government College University Hyderabad has only 42 seats for Karachi students out of 1,335, while Mehran University of Engineering and Technology's Jamshoro main campus offers them 20 out of 953 seats.

At Quaid-e-Awam University, Karachi students have 19 seats out of 674, while the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, allocates just 14 out of 986 seats.

The number is even lower at medical universities: Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, and People's University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women, Nawabshah, each reserve 10 seats for students from Karachi.