‘KU will have to accept more students ... than its capacity’

‘Seats in medical specialties to be a dilemma’

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 11: The effects of “illusory excellence” high school students have attained, in light of the expectations of an admission crisis at Kuwait University, as sources indicate the university will have to accept more students than its capacity, by at least 3,000 students, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Senior sources revealed that Kuwait University Council convened recently to discuss the proposed numbers of students admitted for the academic year 2020/2021, while the various colleges determined the total number of students they could accept at 6,362 seats.

This number was determined based on the capability of each college, strength and the possibility of opening academic divisions, pointing out that the university was able to obtain approval not to reduce the social welfare budget for next year under which the student rewards fall, expecting the number of admissions will reach 9,500 new students only, while the rest of the doors kept lowering.

The sources pointed out that seats in the medical specialties will be a dilemma, the same as the foreign scholarships, noting the University Council had previously increased the percentage of seats by 15 percent in 2019. It will not cover the many outstanding students who wish to join medical colleges due to the high admission rates this year.

The number of seats in the five medical colleges reached 552, including 130 for the Faculty of Medicine, 27 for the Faculty of Dentistry, 65 for the Faculty of Pharmacy, 70 for Faculty of Public Health, and 260 for Faculty of Allied Health Sciences.

Regarding other colleges, the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies has limited its capacity to 300 for freshmen, 500 in the College of Arts, 1,170 in the College of Science, 800 in the College of Life Sciences, 500 in the College of Administrative Sciences, and the same for the Faculty of Law. The College of Engineering and petroleum limited its seats to 820 seats and the College of Education to 760, College of Social Sciences to 350, and the College of Architecture 110 seats.

Sources emphasized that the numbers were suggested, according to the absorptive capacity of each college, and the colleges will be forced to accept more than its capacity, in light of the high rates of success and excellence. The university may have to change some mechanisms in the academic divisions, such as increasing the number of students in each division or other measures to accommodate them.

They cautioned over linking the commitment to accept all who meet the conditions. They indicated “cutting down bonuses for teaching overtime will reduce the university’s ability to open enough divisions but the university may compensate for it by increasing the number of students in the divisions or increasing the normal teaching load for each university professor but there are no alternative solutions in the absence of a budget for student rewards”.