Picture used for illustrative purposes.

Salam Abu Shehab, Staff Reporter

Every graduate from high school has a seat in the university regardless of the EmSAT results, said Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Education, noting that the standards were updated after the results of the matriculation exams including EmSAT had been considered.

In his reply to a question posed by Maryam Bin Thaniyah, Federal National Council Member, about the EmSAT tests as a tool for matriculation in universities, Al Falasi said: “A student is not obligated to pass the EmSAT exam to be admitted to a university. There are other alternatives including the IELTS, TOEFL and any other international exams approved for admission to universities.”

He indicated that the capacity of exam centres was raised to accommodate 19,000 students annually.

Al Falasi explained that the Ministry of Education (MoE) provided the university students, who had to stop their education over the past years due to the results of their EmSAT exams, with technological, technical and bridging programmes to complete their studies and the issue would be finally addressed.

In the academic year 2021-2022, the MoE had previously unified the university matriculation standards, according to which a minimum standard for admission to universities had been set.