Authorities of Rajshahi University (RU) have decided to reduce the number of seats from next academic year.

To ensure the quality of education and research, RU has taken this decision, Prof Pradip Kumar Panday, administrator of public relations office, said.

In last academic year, the number of seats were set at 4,173 (without quota). But this year, 15 departments decided to enrol 168 fewer students than previous year. Thus, the total number dropped to 4,005, our RU correspondent reports.

According to RU's official website, 20 seats each will be reduced from Bangla, Social Work and Sociology departments. The departments of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and Painting, Printmaking and Oriental Art will reduce 15 seats each. The departments of History, Economics, Public Administration, Political Science, Computer Science and Engineering will reduce 10 seats each.

On the other hand, Anthropology, Folklore, Geography and Environmental Studies departments will reduce 6 seats each; Psychology and Theatre departments decided to reduce 5 seats each.

Prof Pradip Kumar Panday said that ahead of admission test, the administration asked all departments how many students they want to enrol. Responding to that, the departments submitted the numbers after having academic committee meeting.

RU Vice chancellor Prof Golam Shabbir Sattar told The Daily Star, "To ensure quality of education, we encourage department authorities to rearrange the number of their students according to their capacity."

"Additionally, as we have higher number of students than our infrastructure can properly accommodate, reducing the number of seats would have a positive impact," he added.

The application process of admission tests for 2021-22 academic session started on May 25. Some 72,000 admission seekers would be able to vie for the tests in each unit.