Person heading the board of studies for the course doesn't have requisite credentials
The recent deluge of plum offers by tech firms to IITians may have raised the hopes of BSc (IT) students of Mumbai University, but the state of affairs at the institution points to a bleak future for them.
Days after dna blew the lid off a BSc (Information Technology) question paper scam, it has emerged that the entire pyramid, from those teaching the course to decision-makers, is in the wrong hands – or infected, if one chooses to use the language of computers.
This newspaper has found that the head of the board of studies for the course – Professor Tushar Desai – apparently does not have the requisite credentials. Prof Desai is a physics scholar who also holds the post of principal at DG Ruparel College, Matunga. He holds MSc and PhD degrees in physics.
Prof Desai has been the chairman of the BoS, created on an ad hoc basis, since 2012. As per the Maharashtra Universities Act 1994, BoS is responsible for designing the curriculum, deciding on text and reference books, recommending names of paper-setters, examiners, moderators, and chalking out broader guidelines on teaching the subject.
Considering that the future of thousands of BSc (IT) students depend on the functioning of the board, one has to fulfil a set of criteria to become a member or its chairman.
“One must have a PG degree with at least 10 years of teaching experience of the subject at postgraduate level or he/she must be an assistant director of any national lab, or a subject expert who has published a book on the core subject or three research papers in big journals,” says the Act. In his defence, Desai said he has the ‘expertise’ and ‘long teaching experience’ in the subject.
“Selection of the chairman of ad-hoc BoS is being done by flouting all rules and eligibility criteria since past few years. Professors have apprised the higher-ups many times but since the top officials too are involved in the mess, no one looks at the complaints,” said a source.
Like BSc(IT), varsity’s other self-financed courses have ad-hoc boards, a trend for past 14 years.
“Prof Desai may be having working knowledge of the IT field, but that doesn’t make him qualified enough to decide what thousands of students of Mumbai University need to learn in order to prepare for the job market,” said a highly placed official.
He is also an academic council member, a prestigious board which takes a call on all academic matters. The multi-tasking academician is also on the advisory committee of MJ College, Jalgaon, states the college’s website.
The rot has percolated from top to the bottom, said sources. “Not only chairman, even teachers of IT courses in most of colleges don’t have adequate qualification. This has led to a steep decline in the quality of education of this course which sells like hot cakes in the job market,” said a professor. About 30-40% of BSc (IT) seats in most of colleges have remained vacant in past 3 years.
The university introduced the BSc (IT) course in undergraduate colleges in 2001, branding it as “self-financed” and “job-oriented”. With no government grant, most colleges have hired untrained teachers. Experts say majority of the students have remained jobless in past five years. Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar did not respond to calls and message.
Not just a copy-paste job
On November 22, dna had reported that the university had copied the internal exam question paper of a suburban college for its November 14 BSc(IT) exam – more than 16,000 fifth semester students from over 400 colleges took it. Of the 28 sub-questions (of seven questions) of the MU exam, 26 were the same as that asked in an internal exam of Usha Pravin Gandhi College of Management, Vile Parle.
After receiving a tip-off and copies of both the question papers, DNA had on November 20 alerted the Mumbai University to the possibility of a scam. Following this, the varsity had formed a committee to look into the matter. While the committee submitted its report on Nov 25, officials never made its contents public.
MU to take call on BSc (IT) re-exam
The university has called an urgent board of exam meeting on Friday to take a call on re-examination of “software testing” paper of 5th semester of BSc IT. About 16,000 students will have to take the exam again. The board will also decide on action against the paper-setter, reportedly from the same Usha Pravin Gandhi College of Management, Vile Parle, whose internal exam paper was copy-pasted in the varsity exam suggesting a corruption angle.
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