Mumbai university : A steep fall from grace

Eighteen-year-old Saba Siddiqui (name changed), a TYBSc student of a Mumbai College, is running from pillar to post since Monday to rectify an error in her hall ticket for the fifth semester exam starting on Monday (October 14).

“I am studying Chemistry but my hall ticket says it’s Botany. Now, instead of studying, I am doing the rounds to fix this problem,” Saba rued. Like Saba, hundreds of students are undergoing the same ordeal ahead of their exams. The March 2013 season was equally chaotic. Thanks to the introduction of “online measures” without any pilot experiment. However, university officials remain tight-lipped to save the outsourcing agency – Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) – which has created a huge mess ever since it was hired three years ago sidelining its own Central Computing Facility department.

“The firm was neither penalised nor the contract was terminated though the varsity pays nearly Rs2.5 crore annually to the firm,” a top official said.

Vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar and minister for higher and technical education Rajesh Tope are the directors of the MKCL.

“The university’s examination house had collapsed many years ago. There is no serious effort to revive it except some cosmetic changes like online delivery of papers and hall tickets,” said Sanjay Vairal, a senate member.

As the number of students has almost doubled in the past 10 years, nothing was done to reform the exam house. Of the 350 sanctioned posts, only 210 are filled. “We are managing with 250 workers hired on seasonal basis,” admitted Padma Deshmukh, controller of examination. The biggest stakeholder – 6.7 lakh students – feel the brunt. They are forced to take repeaters exam as revaluation result stuck for months due to shortage of teachers. The battle is at many fronts: eligibility, enrolment, attestation, errors in mark-sheets, and all of these require running from pillar to post. However, several changes have been made in the system in the past two years, increasing the anxiety of the students.

Falling rankings and reputation
The problems afflicting the university are many: political interference, weak leadership, heavily burdened administration, scarcity of good teachers – all lead to compromised academic and research environment. None of the university departments and 681 affiliated colleges stand at the national level. The academic reputation has touched an all-time low. In the recently released QS World University rankings, MU lands up in the 601-650 bracket, 200 points below as compared to 2009. The indicators taken into account in these rankings are academic reputation, teachers’ research work, strength of foreign students and employer reputation etc.

The university’s reputation among employers, based on employability of the graduates, has also slipped from 198 in 2011 to 249. Ironically, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in its reaccreditation report in 2012 described Gothic architecture as “institutional strengths” of Mumbai University. The institutional weaknesses, on the other hand, were noted as faculty crunch and their too little research work. In past 10 years, the number of students has gone up – from 3.5 lakh in 2002 to nearly 6.5 lakh in 2012.

It is unfortunate for one of the premier institutions of the country which has been the alma mater of Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and BR Ambedkar.

Out of 670 colleges spread in six districts, over 30% lack basic infrastructure, principals and approved teachers. The status of engineering and management colleges are worse than others due to stake of various agencies – AICTE, DTE and MU who shirk the responsibility allegedly at the behest of the college managements. “It’s students who suffer the most,” said a 22-year-old engineering student whose institute Parshvanath Engineering College was de-affiliated by the AICTE last year due to irregularities.

PhD and research
The university produces close to 200 PhDs every year. A large number of PhDs in MU are being done by teachers to get promotion. “When the goal is something else, you can’t expect actual research from them. You will never find their work in peer-reviewed journals,” said a professor. In Hindi, over a dozen people are doing PhD/ MPhil on unknown contemporary poets. A professor says, “The research recognition committees which approve the topics are constituted on favouritism. Members are incapable to take right decisions.”

Schemes and scholarships
Over 30% postgraduate students studying in Kalina campus are from poor background. The university has “earn and learn scheme” for poor students with the allocation of Rs5 lakh. With just Rs25 an hour labour rate, the scheme had just one taker last year. Rs50 lakh allocated for the Dalit, OBC and poor students remained fully unused in 2011-12. The book bank scheme for colleges is so mismanaged that the university has now launched a probe.

Controversial appointments
While 25% of the teachers’ posts are vacant, several departments lack heads. Appointment of heads in management institute, physical education etc. is mired in controversy. Three professors have been booked in sexual harassment charges. Ex-pro vice-chancellor AD Sawant says, “The incompetent vice-chancellor has failed to provide a leadership. The teaching and non-teaching staff is de-motivated. The news of repeated gaffes in exams and paper leaks is now read across the world which seriously dents varsity’s image.”

Sawant blames political interference in the university behind the sham story. “This university is the best example how political class can ruin an educational institution.” Although plans for university reforms, including splitting the university to make it more manageable have been floated, they await implementation. “As private and foreign universities will establish their campuses in the state, more students and teachers would flock there. Then there would be no need to bifurcate the varsities,” said a professor.

Foreign collaborations
Foreign students at the university – one of the important indicators in rankings – have declined to single digit. Only 211 students were admitted in affiliated colleges in 2012 all from Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa.