MADURAI
Aspirants waiting to enrol for M.Phil and Ph.D programmes in Madurai Kamaraj University and its affiliated colleges this academic year have expressed disappointment over the inordinate delay in admission process.
With three months already gone in this academic year, the aspirants and administration of several affiliated colleges said they were at risk of losing a year, particularly for M.Phil programme.
“Delay in Ph.D programmes can be accommodated. However, M.Phil programme follows semester pattern and ought to be completed as per schedule,” said a postgraduate student, planning to do M.Phil in Sociology at the university.
The issue started with the MKU adopting the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil/Ph.D Degrees) Regulations 2016 earlier this year, despite opposition from a section of faculty members.
Apart from restricting the number of scholars a research guide could accommodate, the new regulations mandated universities to conduct centralised entrance examinations and interviews for admissions, instead of delegating the process to affiliated colleges.
A Principal from an affiliated college in Dindigul district alleged that there were inordinate delays from the MKU at every stage of the admission process. “Initially, a lot of time was wasted in gathering details on vacancies in every college for the programmes. Then there was a delay in conducting the entrance exam. Now, the results of the examination are kept pending,” he said.
M. Kannan, Principal, Saraswathi Narayanan College, alleged lack of communication from the university. “Though the MKU is conducting entrance exams for the first time for these courses, there was no communication on examination pattern or model question papers,” he said.
“The colleges did not receive any formal communication on when and where examinations are being conducted,” he added.
S. Nehru, Principal, Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College, urged the university not to delay the admission process any further. “Ideally, M.Phil programme should have begun in August. The first semester will have three papers. The colleges can somehow make up for the lost time if the classes begin at least now. Otherwise, M.Phil programme would go for a toss,” he said.
Pointing out that the entrance examination involved a written test and an interview, P.P. Chellathurai, Vice-Chancellor, MKU, said the written tests were already over and committees had been constituted for conducting interviews.
Stating that the delay primarily happened before he took charge, he said, “We are confident of finishing the admission process within three weeks and ensuring that the students are not affected,” he said.
