SSUET admission: Students claim lack of transparency in entrance tests

Varsity officials snub students when approached for results

KARACHI: A number of candidates who sat the entrance test for admissions to the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) have accused the institution of failing to maintain transparency in the admission procedure.  

“The university administration has displayed the list of successful candidates without even bothering to disclose the applicants’ test scores,” said O*, an applicant who approached the university officials on Wednesday to register his grievances.



The applicant was not alone as dozens of other candidates have visited the university officials to find out their performance in the tests since the university displayed the merit list of over 2,200 candidates on December 4. “The university officials, including the vice-chancellor and the registrar, simply refused to listen to my request and behaved rather rudely,” said another applicant A*, who had gone to meet the university registrar on Tuesday, along with her parents.

As many as 5,000 candidates sat the two-hour-long entrance test that was held at the Karachi Expo Centre on September 28. However, the candidates felt a surge of anxiety when the university failed to issue the merit list as per the stated admission schedule, which each of them had received after submitting the application processing fee of Rs2,000. “The final merit list of selected candidates will be displayed at the notice board of the university on November 17, 2014 and will also be available at the university website,” stated the printed admission schedule.

At last, when the university made the merit list of candidates available on December 4, a number of candidates registered their dissatisfaction and accused the SSUET administration of compromising fairness and transparency in the procedures. “Each of us had paid Rs2,000 just to sit the entrance test -that’s Rs10 million in total; isn’t it our right to know how we performed in the test?” questioned another applicant who secured 81% marks in Matric and 80% in his Intermediate. “The vice-chancellor told me that the university simply will not disclose my test score before asking me to leave his room.”



Meanwhile, the university’s spokesperson maintained that the SSUET has its own policies, which cannot be changed on the whims and wishes of the applicants. “We did not introduce a new admissions policy this year and those who chose to sit the entrance test inevitably agreed to abide our rules and regulations.”

The spokesperson added that the candidates who have been declared eligible for admission were approved on the basis of selection criteria formulated by the admission.

*Names withheld to protect privacy

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2014.