Getting into PhD courses in Telangana will see a radical change from this year with the government proposing a common entrance test for all the varsities and on the lines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
Concerned over the falling standards and inordinate delay in submission of the thesis in all the universities the government has decided to make the entrance transparent and also tough for non-serious candidates who see it as more of a way to gain a hostel seat than serious research.
A meeting of the newly appointed Vice-Chancellors of Osmania University, Kakatiya University, Telangana University, Palamuru University and Mahatma Gandhi University with the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and senior officials from the government decided to adopt a common entrance test for all the universities. A committee will be constituted soon to prepare the guidelines and the Vice Chancellors gave their nod.
PhD admissions in Osmania University and Kakatiya University have been mired in controversies with allegations that student leaders have sway over the admission process and these include coercive methods. Deans and Heads of the Departments are under tremendous pressure as well to accommodate candidates.
The central universities adopt a fairly transparent method in the admissions with 70% reserved for the written exam and 30% for the interview. The candidates are given a copy of the OMR sheet of the entrance exam and the key is uploaded on the website thus eliminating the scope for mischief.
The interview part has a breakup component where 10 marks are meant for the research proposal, 10 marks weightage is given to student’s fellowships from national organisations and the rest for interview performance thus reducing outright favouritism to any student. The admission committee is headed by the Head of the Department and consists of representatives from SC, ST and OBC groups to avoid discrimination.
“We hope to streamline the admission system and the Vice Chancellors themselves favoured a more transparent system to reduce pressure on them,” a senior official said after the meeting.
Common almanac for all TS varsities
A common almanac will be adopted for the undergraduate courses for the academic year 2021-22 with first semester classes starting from September 1 while the last day of instruction in the first semester is January 12, 2022. First semester students will have a short vacation from October 9 to 17 with classwork resuming from October 18. The first internal assessment test will be from November 10 to 12 and the second one from December 21 to 23.
The first semester examinations are scheduled from January 24 to February 16, 2022, and the classwork for the second semester will begin from February 17. The first internal assessment tests will be held from April 6 to 8, and the second assessment from May 11 to 13.
The last day of instruction will be June 8 and the second-semester exams will be conducted from June 17 to July 8. Colleges will reopen from August 12.
BA Honors course
The TSCHE has also decided to introduce BA Honors as a pilot project in four constituent colleges of Osmania University and Kakatiya University apart from government degree colleges.
