Days ahead of semester exams, Mumbai University has told all its 500 affiliated colleges to conduct the 'Applied Component' exam of final-year BSc as home examination.
The sudden move has stunned the colleges and students both as the third-year exam has always been the university's responsibility. Besides, the university has already declared the timetable for the fifth semester exam in which the Applied Component paper is slated for October 6.
"Theory examination of Applied Component for semester 5 and 6 in science faculty should be conducted by colleges along with the practical examination," reads the September 21 circular issued to the institutions. The circular says that the decision was taken in the academic council meeting on August 31.
The theory and practical exams have weightage of 100-100 marks each.
Applied Component is an essential part of the curriculum. Final-year students of all subjects have to appear in their respective applied component paper. The university offers over 24 BSc courses in all. Colleges usually offer 5-10 BSc courses. That means, each college has to conduct 5-10 exams now in such a short notice.
Institutes cited shortage of time and manpower to make arrangements, especially when they are already in the midst of first and third semester exams.
"The fifth semester students give papers at different examination centres, not at home institutes. Though practical exams are conducted at home centres, arranging examiners in such a short span would be tough," says Ravi Mishra, professor of chemistry at Bhavan's College.
Colleges say arranging in a haphazard manner will not only ruin the spirit of examination but also hassle students, especially for those who are set to appear for the fifth semester. Sixth semester exams would be conducted in March-April 2016.
University sources claimed that this aims to reduce the workload of the university which is already struggling with manpower shortage. "Besides, this subject is not included in the calculation of final grades. So, the change is not as big as being projected by the colleges."
"It would have been better if they had withdrawn the subject altogether instead of making a mockery of exam," said a principal. Some principals also said that the university collected the exam fee and now shifting responsibilities to them.
Colleges allege that the university is taking several arbitrary decisions of late which suggest that it has failed to implement the credit-based semester system even after 5 years of launch.
When asked about the motive of this sudden change, registrar MA Khan said, "Dean of faculty of science has proposed this change to make the exam process easy, which was approved by the academic council on August 31. However, if colleges have problems, we will find a way out."
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