Speak up Mumbai: Newly appointed varsity VC Dr Suhas Pednekar has his job cut out

On April 27, the Governor of Maharashtra and Chancellor of the University of Mumbai appointed Dr Suhas Pednekar as the new Vice Chancellor of the university. Pednekar’s appointment comes six months after the varsity’s former VC Dr Sanjay Deshmukh was removed from the post for gross negligence.

The University, which over the last few years has been under the scanner for delayed results and poor implementation of academic reforms, is now facing an unprecedented situation after the poor implementation of the onscreen marking (OSM) system. 

Apart from the issues of pending results and delayed assessments, the varsity is facing a plethora of challenges. It lost it’s prestigious NAAC ‘A’ accreditation last year and has also failed to secure a spot in any of the national and international rankings. 

With this, the newly appointed VC has a number of challenges. DNA spoke to various stakeholders to understand what the priorities should be for the new VC. 

VOICES

It is imperative to ensure that the results are declared on time as it causes unnecessary problems and stress. When all the university results come out on time, then there are no problems related to further studies. Also, the education system at university level needs to be streamlined. The VC should ensure its ranking improves. 
—Maheringiz C Khodaiji, parent of Class X student and a resident of Andheri.

My daughter’s third-year BCom result was declared after almost 6 months. She wanted to take admission for Law in Pune, but we had no idea when the Mumbai University results would come out. My daughter lost a year due to the dealyed results. I feel the new Vice Chancellor of the university should focus on this.
—Sandhya Pinto, resident of Chembur.

Publish or perish. That should be the academic agenda. The university departments must each have a journal dedicated to the field and every teacher must publish in it. Teachers must be weaned away from admissions, eligibility, registration, mark sheet and other certification of students. There ought to be no human involvement at all. Every Masters Degree programme must have a research component of 70 per cent. Every department must have a presence in distance learning.
—Dr Sanjay Ranade, Professor, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Mumbai.

There are no basic facilities in Mumbai university, even after being one of the oldest universities in the country. There is only one hostel in the Kalina campus, which does not even accommodate 100 students, it would be great if the new VC looks after the issue and constructs one more hostel. Also, there is total chaos in the examination and its timetable. It would be great if he could change it and make it better for students.
—Aakash Sawarkar, student.

Mumbai University is one of the oldest and most respected universities. But since past few years, there has been leak of exam papers, mismanagement in paper setting. Moreover, results are never declared on time, especially LLB results. The new Vice Chancellor should bring in a system to rectify these loopholes and work on bringing back the old reputation. 
—Advocate Anand Jondhale, a resident of Wadala.

Mumbai University results are delayed. There are many students who miss an opportunity to apply to foreign universities because these delays. The first thing the VC should do is take care of the examinations and results department. Paper leaks should be curbed, and proper and timely examination results should be declared. Many students even complained that papers weren’t corrected properly, this issue should also be looked into.
—Kunjan Damania, a resident of Borivali.

Students (Mumbai University) and their parents have lost faith due to inefficiency and confusion created in examinations, assessment and results. The new VC needs to restore this lost confidence. Mumbai University is consistently losing its ranking in the country. It is important to get back this ranking to its previous stature. Unless the University of Mumbai improves in all domains, it will not be able to regain its lost glory.
—Rajendra Pradhan, Chembur resident

The VC should ensure that exams are held on time and results are declared on time. Answer papers were all over the place. Many students have to appear for other exams after they were done giving one set of exams. Professors and teachers going on strike also affect students. They must look into it. He needs to tighten up a few things. MU needs to be number one again.
—Shyama Kulkarni, a former teacher.

EXPERT SPEAK

The most important task at hand for the new VC would be to accommodate interests of all sections — teachers, students and staff. Over the last few years, some people have been favoured and the university has failed to take action over erring colleges, which has further led to many others flouting norms. For proper working, the administration needs to follow norms and should ensure that colleges too fall in line. 
—Dr Vaibhav Narawade, Senate member

The new VC should focus on issues of students, which mainly include examinations. Over the last few years, the exam system is in a complete mess and students are the worst sufferers. Constant rescheduling of exam time tables, delayed evaluation, result declaration and delay in revaluation need to be addressed on an urgent basis. Law students are the worst hit due to delayed evaluations and results.
—Sachin Pawar, President, Student Law Council