diff --git a/reframe/core/pipeline.py b/reframe/core/pipeline.py
index ea63aaa1c9..e97ad769d4 100644
--- a/reframe/core/pipeline.py
+++ b/reframe/core/pipeline.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class RegressionTest(object):
     num_tasks_per_core  = IntegerField('num_tasks_per_core', allow_none=True)
     num_tasks_per_socket = IntegerField('num_tasks_per_socket', allow_none=True)
     use_multithreading  = BooleanField('use_multithreading', allow_none=True)
+    exclusive_access    = BooleanField('exclusive_access')
     local               = BooleanField('local')
     prefix              = StringField('prefix')
     sourcesdir          = StringField('sourcesdir', allow_none=True)
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ def __init__(self, name, prefix, system, resources):
         self.num_tasks_per_core = None
         self.num_tasks_per_socket = None
         self.use_multithreading = None
+        self.exclusive_access = False
 
         # True only if check is to be run locally
         self.local = False
@@ -277,6 +279,7 @@ def _setup_job(self, **job_opts):
                 num_tasks_per_core=self.num_tasks_per_core,
                 num_tasks_per_socket=self.num_tasks_per_socket,
                 use_smt=self.use_multithreading,
+                exclusive_access=self.exclusive_access,
                 launcher=self._launcher_type,
                 stdout=self.stdout,
                 stderr=self.stderr,
diff --git a/reframe/core/schedulers.py b/reframe/core/schedulers.py
index 768380e1e0..e6e4bfd9ff 100644
--- a/reframe/core/schedulers.py
+++ b/reframe/core/schedulers.py
@@ -235,7 +235,6 @@ class SlurmJob(Job):
     def __init__(self,
                  time_limit = (0, 10, 0),
                  use_smt = None,
-                 exclusive = True,
                  nodelist = None,
                  exclude = None,
                  partition = None,
@@ -245,12 +244,13 @@ def __init__(self,
                  num_cpus_per_task=None,
                  num_tasks_per_core=None,
                  num_tasks_per_socket=None,
+                 exclusive_access = False,
                  **kwargs):
         super().__init__(**kwargs)
         self.partition   = partition
         self.time_limit  = time_limit
         self.use_smt     = use_smt
-        self.exclusive   = exclusive
+        self.exclusive_access   = exclusive_access
         self.nodelist    = nodelist
         self.exclude     = exclude
         self.reservation = reservation
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ def emit_preamble(self, builder):
         if self.partition:
             builder.verbatim('%s --partition=%s' % (self.prefix, self.partition))
 
-        if self.exclusive:
+        if self.exclusive_access:
             builder.verbatim('%s --exclusive' % self.prefix)
 
         if self.account:
diff --git a/reframe/settings.py b/reframe/settings.py
index 584d8aa3c3..c8fe58ab5b 100644
--- a/reframe/settings.py
+++ b/reframe/settings.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from reframe.core.fields import ReadOnlyField
 
 class RegressionSettings:
-    version     = ReadOnlyField('2.5')
+    version     = ReadOnlyField('2.6')
     module_name = ReadOnlyField('reframe')
     job_state_poll_intervals = ReadOnlyField([ 1, 2, 3 ])
     job_init_poll_intervals  = ReadOnlyField([ 1 ])