The evaluation of doctoral theses has come to a partial halt in the University of Kerala with many submitted by research scholars who registered after July 2016 kept on the back burner.
The delay in framing guidelines to implement the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of MPhil/PhD degrees) Regulations, 2016, which governs the research works, has been cited as the reason. These researchers, many of them aged above 35 years, have sought steps to expedite the process since their career prospects hang in the balance.
Those who have complete their research within three-and-a-half years of their registration say that several theses submitted since January await evaluation. With almost a year passing by, they claim that the university has failed to abide by the UGC regulations that mandate completion of evaluation within six months of the submission of thesis.
The university generally takes one to three years to complete the evaluation, and hence the research scholars fear that they could be running out of time to secure employment. “With many of us pushing 40, it will be increasingly difficult to apply for job openings. The problem is also likely to stall the post-doctoral hopes of some,” a research scholar said.
Other universities
They cited the examples of Mahatma Gandhi University and the University of Calicut which have framed the guidelines and also implemented policies to check plagiarism in accordance with the UGC regulations.
The scholars also flagged the absence of a full-time Director of Research who could have functioned as the nodal officer to address the problems of researchers. “Instead, we now have a professor holding the additional charge of Research Director who claims helplessness in resolving the issue,” the source said.
Varsity’s version
A senior university official said the revised guidelines had been drafted and awaited the final approval of the academic council scheduled to meet on November 21. He added that the university had adopted Urkund, a free software recommended by the UGC to detect plagiarism. Discussions were also on to purchase a more effective software at the earliest.
