Soon, Mumbai University to put up PhD research work online

TNN | Jun 18, 2018, 02:36 IST

MUMBAI: Soon, PhD research work done by those pursuing it from Mumbai University will be available online for reference. Viva voce of PhD and MPhil candidates will be of open defense nature—a discussion with experts about the research.

Mumbai University on Friday revised some rules on PhD and MPhil through the vice-chancellor’s directives. PhD aspirants will have to complete it in six years which can be extended to a maximum of 10.
It is for the first time that the varsity has sent a limit for aspirants to finish programmes. If duration of research for MPhil is less than 2 sessions or one year and maximum 4 sessions or 2 years, this period for a PhD will be for at least 3 years and maximum 6 years.

Candidates can avail an extension of four years and must complete course work within 10 years. Women and physically challenged researchers can avail another year’s extension for MPhil and two years for PhD. Viva voce of candidates will be in the form of open defence of the thesis.

 Open defence session is a discussion with experts from outside the university who are permitted to question the researcher on the subject of his or her work. University vice-chancellor Suhas Pednekar said that open defense, a UGC norm, was implemented by the university for the first time.

“Though the period for completion of Ph D is decided to be 6 years, we’ll consider extending it to 10 on a case-to-case basis,” said Pednekar.

He added that the validity of PET score will be for 3 years as of now, but the varsity may take a call on reducing it. “Non availability of guides in some subjects is a problem. So, we have to extend the validity to 3 years. In future, we may relook it,” he said.

Following successful completion of evaluation process, the university library will submit an electronic copy of the dissertation or thesis to Inflibnet, an inter-university network, to be made accessible to all institutions and colleges. The varsity will now hold the PhD/MPhil entrance test (PET) online. Also, researchers have to submit progress reports of research work to a panel that will supervise each candidate.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/soon-mumbai-university-to-put-up-phd-research-work-online/articleshow/64626826.cms