A decision by the Mahatma Gandhi University Syndicate to temporarily suspend admission to the five-year integrated M.S/M.Sc programme offered by its Institute for Integrated programme and Research in Basic Sciences (IIRBS) has invited harsh criticism from scholars and students.
The development has come at a time when five out of the total 10 students of the first batch (2009) had received admission for Ph.D. programme in prestigious institutions including the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT Mumbai, and a university in the U.S. Two students had received jobs in a Bangalore-based pharma and biotechnology contract research company. IIRBS started the integrated programme in 2009.
Vice Chancellor Prof. Babu Sebastian told The Hindu that the academic council and Syndicate had reported confusion in the conduct of the five-year programme. “We have also found that the focus on the core area was less than 30 per cent in the curriculum,” he said.
Rejecting these observations, Rajan Gurukkal, former Vice Chancellor, told The Hindu that the course and curriculum structure were prepared by an expert committee headed by TIFR-Mumbai faculty and approved by the university during his tenure.
“It is evident from the entry of IIRBS students to prestigious institutions in the country and abroad that the programme provides brilliant instructional support in theory together with excellent laboratory skills. It is most unfortunate that the university decided suo motu discontinuation of the five-year integrated MS/MSc programme,” he said.
The Hindu has learnt that the university authorities were at loggerheads with the head of the institution, especially after a student of the 2009 batch, who got admission for Ph.D. in IISc, Bangalore, approached the Kerala High Court following the inordinate delay in the issue of provisional degree certificate. The varsity authorities issued the certificate on May 8 after the court issued an interim order on May 8 stating that it should be issued within three days.
The Vice Chancellor admitted this while stating that such steps would not help in the smooth conduct of an academic programme. He also said that a syndicate sub-committee would study the issues at IIRBS and suggest remedial measures.
