By Sarah Hannan A fundamental rights (FR) petition was filed against the University of Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA) on 4 August at the Supreme Court (SC), challenging the admission list to the UVPA Faculty of Music. “The FR petition refers to the discrepancy of the student recruitment criteria to the UVPA. Ideally, the prospective student should face a practical test and an aptitude test to gain entry to this university. However, last year's circular to increase the intake of students had been misinterpreted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the UPVA administration,” Attorney-at-Law Muzar Lye, who is appearing for the petitioner, told The Morning. Last year in October, our weekly newspaper shared some insights into the incident where student unions had filed a Right to Information (RTI) application requesting a clear explanation by the UGC and the UVPA administration over the recruitment criteria for students for the years 2018 and 2019. Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Convener Ratkarawwe Jinarathna Thera last year stated that there was a discrepancy in the recruitment of students for the UVPA for the academic year 2018/2019. There are two methods of recruiting students to the UVPA. Students who have studied aesthetics for their Advanced Level (A/L) exam and passed the exam are given an opportunity by the UPVA to sit for a practical examination and the list of students who pass the practical exam is shared with the UGC, which then shortlists candidates based on their Z scores. However, for the academic year 2018/2019, the recruitment criteria had been changed without even providing a clear explanation to the students as to why the criteria were changed. Therefore, the prospective new batch of students is facing a number of issues when applying for the university. Meanwhile, the UGC had issued a circular requesting the UVPA to submit a list which had three times more of the average amount of students they would recruit during an academic year. For instance, for a year on average, the Faculty of Fine Arts receives applications from about 700-800 students who later sit for the practical exams, out of which only 200-300 students would pass the exam. That list of names would be sent to the UGC and they would select the students who have the appropriate Z score and fulfil the criteria set out by the university. With the new circular, the university this year had not only sent the names of the students who passed the practical exams, but also the others who didn’t pass the practical exams. With this new adjustment, the students are facing an issue with the increasing amount of student intake and the question as to how certain students who didn’t fare well at the practical exam are able to gain entry to the university. The petition was filed on the basis that the UGC had ignored the result of the mandatory aptitude test, while reducing the cutoff mark given by the university. The cutoff mark, which was originally 50, was reduced to 26 and students who have not passed the aptitude test had been accepted. Petitioning counsels pointed out that the cutoff mark should be decided by the university and not by the UGC. After considering all these factors, the university has now stayed the academic course of the batch accepted by the UGC, and such a move is said to be the first in the history of Sri Lanka.