Senate members want Mumbai University to pull out of FY, SY exams

TNN | Apr 1, 2018, 05:13 IST

 

Mumbai University.

 

MUMBAI A two-day senate meeting of Mumbai University saw members being vocal about examination matters. Several principals demanded that first-year and second-year exam duty be given back to colleges as the university is finding it logistically tough to conduct the same. The idea mooted by the previous vice-chancellor was an experiment that had failed, said professors and college heads.

For instance, Anuja Palsuledesai, head of Vivekanand Night College, said that the system of holding morning varsity exams for FY and SY students forced night college candidates to skip work and many did not appreciate that.

Many principals also said that assessment was a concern as all exams were taking place in the March-end to early-May time frame.

"Earlier, colleges completed the exam and assessment work of FY and SY before third-year exams began and so faculty were available for assessment duty. But now all exams take place at the same time frame which sees a pile-up of evaluation work."

Several principals raised the controversial matter of the university's contract with Merittrac, the technical partner for on-screen assessment. "Tell us what are the merits of having MeritTrac again after so much goof-up in 2017 assessment work?" asked senate member Anil Parab.

Principal of D G Ruparel College, Tushar Desai, said tagging of faculty was an issue this time too.

"Teachers who were tagged for the fifth semester exam were also tagged for the sixth semester exam, despite the fact that many were not a part of evaluation duty," he said.

Moreover, the annual budget tabled on Friday was passed on Saturday. Several senate members said the university needs to come up with solutions to reduce its deficit. Supriya Karande, a senate member, said, "The University of Mumbai needs to receive an outstanding sum of Rs 80 crore as pending affiliation fee. We must recover that." The budget was passed with a deficit of Rs 55 crore.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/