University of Mumbai puts off 29 examinations

MUMBAI: Over two dozen examinations of the University of Mumbai to be held on May 9 and 10 have been postponed. The examinations clashed with the state's Common Entrance Test (CET) for engineering aspirants on May 10.

The university issued a circular on April 20 announcing the rescheduled time-table for the exams for undergraduate and postgraduate courses for 29 papers to dates between May 11 and June 2.

Rescheduled papers include those for law students, third year bachelor of arts students and masters of education students. "Many will also appear for CET so we wanted to ensure that there was no clash," said a university official. 

"University exam and CET centres were also the same so we wanted to make sure there was no overlap." All rescheduled papers will take place a day after the last exam paper in the original schedule for each affected courses. The venue and timing of all postponed papers will remain the same.

Paper leak: No relief for final-year B Com students

Mumbai: All final-year B Com students of Mumbai University in the city will have to reappear for the examination of one subject as the Bombay High Court refused to set aside the varsity's decision to this effect.
 
The Mumbai University had on April 1 declared re-examination for Marketing and Human Research Management (MHRM) after its question paper was "accidentally" leaked on March 27 among 40 students at BNN College centre in Bhiwandi.
    
According to the college, it had inadvertently circulated the question paper of MHRM instead of the question paper of Business Economics. The exam on MHRM was to be held the next day on March 28.
 
As per the new schedule, the examination will now be held on April 11.
 
Two students - Jayprakash Agarwal and Chetankumar Sharma - have challenged this decision in the High Court stating that the re-examination would cause inconvenience to over 70,000 final-year BCom students across the city.
 
A division bench of Justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar, however, refused to stay the re-examination and directed the University to file its reply within two weeks.
 
According to the petition, there was no need to hold fresh examination as the question paper of MHRM was leaked only to 40 students and no one else.
 
The two students had sought to quash and set aside the decision taken by the University for re-examination. 

Kumar Bhagwan Khaire to take charge as Registrar of Mumbai University

Mumbai. Maharashtra government has appointed Kumar Bhagwan Khaire as the Registrar of the University of Mumbai. He was earlier Additional Collector of Pune. He will take charge of his office on Tuesday.

The post of registrar was vacant for a long time and for this questions were being raised. Even the senate members had accused that the absence of full-time registrar and Pro Vice-Chancellor is the reason for administrative problems in the university. “The varsity has no Pro Vice-Chancellor and no full-time registrar for almost two years now.

In the absence of a Pro Vice-Chancellor, the burden of examination centre is on the controller of examination. University should make provisions to appoint the Pro Vice-Chancellor at the earliest,” Senator  Abhay Bambole had said.

In the response to these the govt has assured last week that it has published advertisements for the post of controller of exams and we are also making provisions to appoint a full-time registrar within two months. We are working towards making changes in the system so that there are no errors.      

Shiv Sena demands suspension of Mumbai University VC

Mumbai: Shiv Sena legislators and a few members of the Mumbai University Senate Friday demanded the suspension of varsity Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar alleging that he is ineffective in handling the administration of the university.

Led by senior leader Subhash Desai, a delegation met Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of Mumbai University K. Sankaranarayanan, requesting him to appoint an administrator in Welukar's place.

Citing "many serious irregularities" in the university, the delegation highlighted the recent problem of leaking of question papers of T.Y.B.Com examination, wrong question paper being given to 600 students of Commerce and chaos in the distribution of hall tickets to the students.

The governor told the delegation that he had a detailed discussion with the vice chancellor on various issues raised by the members earlier in the day and that he has directed the vice chancellor to make sure  that no student suffers on account of lapses on the part of the university.

As regards the issue of key university positions such as pro vice-chancellor, registrar, controller of examinations, etc. lying vacant in the university, the governor said he will ensure that the vacancies are filled as early as possible.

Maha opposition demands suspension of Mumbai Universitys VC

Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Council was adjourned twice today after the Opposition strongly demanded suspension of Mumbai University's Vice-Chancellor Rajan Welukar for a series of good-ups. 

Soon after the debate on the Budget got over, Shiv Senas Deepak Sawant through point of order apprised the House about blunders committed by the university recently including leaking of a paper in the university exam. 

"Some students did not receive hall tickets on time, some students complained of change in examination centres without intimation. Besides, there was a paper leak," he lamented. 

Demanding immediate suspension of Welukar, Opposition MLCs Vinod Tawade, Diwakar Raote, Ramdas Kadam, Neelam Gorhe among others went to the well of the House and shouted slogans vidyapeeth bachao, Welukar hatao(Save the University and sack Welukar). 

The Opposition MLCs also demanded the Higher and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Tope to make the announcement of Welukars suspension today itself, leading to adjournment of the House twice. 

The proceedings of the House began after Tope assured the House that the sentiments of the legislators would be conveyed to the Governor K Sankarnarayan who is also the Chancellor of the Universities. 

Dearth of PhDs: Mumbai university to focus more on research

MUMBAI: In order to boost research activities in the varsity and affiliated colleges, Mumbai University is trying out several measures. The commerce facility, in particular, has been clearing pending research proposals and conducting workshops to encourage teachers to take up guideship in their respective fields of specialization.

The research and recognition committee (RRC) for commerce has been clearing proposals. "There were pending proposals for more than a year on research topics. Now, we have been clearing at least 10-15 proposals in every meeting," said Madhu Nair, dean of commerce, MU.

The university is also working on the supply and demand aspect. "There is a dearth of PhD guides in the university. Commerce has around 44 guides, exclusive of management guides. We are now holding workshops to explain to teachers the procedure to get their papers published. We are also training them in writing papers. A PhD holder is given guideship on basis of the number of papers they have published in their names," said Nair.

He added that the commerce department is attempting to increase the number of guides to 100 soon.