Paper cut: No prospectus offering insight into undergrad prospects at UoP

Students say they do not have internet access to view the literature online.

PESHAWAR:

An essential experience of applying to universities is going through glossy prospectuses, which most institutes provide free of charge. However, at the University of Peshawar, students applying for undergraduate programmes are left guessing, with no literature available to turn the pages of.

The university started advertising its admission notice in various regional and national dailies from August 22. Following this, candidates from across the province started visiting the university to submit admission forms to relevant departments.

Asadullah from Nowshera recently came to Peshawar for the first time in his life after passing his intermediate exams. Asad told The Express Tribune he got the admission form after paying Rs1,000 at a bank’s branch on campus. However, he was taken aback when all he received in exchange for the sum was a one-page form—no pictures of on-campus facilities, students or faculty were available to lure him to a new academic experience.

Asad said he had no idea about the different departments or the rules and regulations of the varsity. Nor was he aware of the break-up of seats in these departments. “How can I decide which department to choose for my academic progress?”

When asked about the availability of the prospectus online, Asad said he did not know how to use the internet as he belongs to a rural area where even basic amenities are a struggle to get.

Another confused and worried face was that of Muhammad Salim, who said he had come from Charsadda to submit his admission form. Though the form was easy to fill, Salim wished he had a prospectus to help answer the various questions running through his mind.

Salim, too, said he did not have access to the internet and that a softcopy was not an alternative to an actual printed prospectus. He said he was surprised when another student was handed a prospectus from the same window and asked the candidate how he managed to get one. The student, however, told Salim the catalogue was for those seeking admission to an MPhil programme.

Applying for admission to an MPhil programme, Asmat Shah agreed undergraduate students deserved the same. “I don’t know why they are not giving it to undergraduate students,” he said puzzled, adding he paid the same Rs1,000 fee as undergrad candidates.

Leaders of student federations and societies who had set up admission information camps at the campus confirmed no prospectus was available for undergraduate students.

Though they lauded the move of putting up the prospectus on the university’s website, they questioned if authorities knew how many people in the province had access to the internet. They claimed it was discrimination that both MPhil and BS students paid the same Rs1,000 fee for admission forms but only the former were provided with a prospectus.

Leaders of student bodies added authorities have now installed panaflexes within the administration block and near the on-campus bank inscribed with admission information, but stressed they couldn’t be taken as a substitute for the prospectus.

University of Peshawar Director Admissions Professor Dr Hizbullah Khan said they decided to only distribute forms, and not the prospectus, because of monetary considerations. He said the Rs1,000 fee covered not just the form, but also the entrance test.

Dr Khan claimed a hardcopy of the prospectus was available at the admission office for Rs1,500, adding it is being sold separately to lessen the financial burden on candidates. He countered the argument of not providing prospectuses saying, “Most students don’t read it anyway.”

The director clarified candidates have been provided all relevant information on the seat break-up, tests and other issues through the panaflex posters put up on the campus. He added September 5 (Friday) was the last date for the submission of admission forms.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2014.