The University of Chittagong (CU) has abolished the "ward quota", a privilege for children of the university's teachers, officers, and employees, for the 2025–26 undergraduate admission tests.
At the same time, the minimum GPA requirement for all units has been reduced by 0.25 points compared to last year.
Professor Mohammad Saiful Islam, registrar of CU, said the decisions were made at the second meeting of the admission test committee, held last Sunday at the vice chancellor's conference room.
"Students had long been demanding the cancellation of the ward quota. We have decided to abolish it in response to their demand," he said.
According to the revised schedule, CU's admission tests will begin on January 2 with the 'A' unit exam, followed by the 'D' unit on January 3, 'C' unit on January 9, and 'B' unit on January 10.
Among the sub-units, the 'D-1' unit (Department of Physical Education and Sports Science) test will be held on January 5, 'B-1' on January 7, and 'B-2' on January 8.
The online application process will open on December 1 and continue until December 15.
This year, the minimum GPA requirements have been revised as follows:
University authorities said the GPA reduction was made considering the relatively lower results in this year's HSC examinations. The SSC requirement remains unchanged.
In addition, departments with more than 100 seats have now been capped at 100.
For the upcoming session, CU will retain nine types of quotas, excluding the ward quota.
The remaining quotas cover children of freedom fighters, foreign students, ethnic minorities, underprivileged ethnic minorities, non-indigenous Bengali residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, physically challenged students, BKSP athletes, professional athletes, and Dalit students.
Following the July uprising, CU students had demanded the complete abolition of the ward quota. In response, the university reduced it by two-thirds in the 2024–25 academic session and has now scrapped it entirely for 2025–26.