Only 150 PHD, Mphil degrees to be given today

MUMBAI: The annual convocation ceremony of the University of Mumbai (MU) will award only 150 PHD and Mphil degrees this year as compared to the 413 degrees awarded last academic year (2019-20) and 332 in the 2018-19 academic year. The ceremony will take place on Monday.

Students have attributed the decline in the number of doctorates awarded by the varsity this year to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.

The university and its various departments had closed completely in the first few months of the lockdown.

During the period, candidates highlighted several issues including lack of proper e-learning resources, unavailability of remote access to science labs and/or libraries, poor internet facility, among others.

Many students were also affected by the lack of timely disbursement of their fellowship funds.

“In March, students had staged a protest at the university’s Kalina campus and were assured by vice-chancellor Suhas Pednekar on the quick disbursement of fellowship funds. But six months later, students are still waiting for the funds,” said Shridhar Pednekar, a PHD candidate and member of the Chhatrabharati Student Organisation’s MU constituent.

Members of this organisation participated in several protests at Kalina campus during the lockdown on the issue.

Some students also highlighted the lack of a proper research and recognition committee (RRC) in the last one year as the reason for the dip in overall research degrees.

Several student groups, especially postgraduate students have also raised objection to the fact that they are yet to receive mark sheets for exams they cleared last year.

“The delay is caused by the lockdown as the varsity campus was shut from February 20 til end of May, after which we opened the office only twice a week. Also many pending queries with RRC had to be cleared first therefore it took more time to approve topics of research,” said an official from MU.

He added that at present, PHD thesis interviews of students from commerce, engineering and science departments are almost over while remaining interviews for the humanities section should be over by February 15.

Around 1.61 lakh undergraduate students and 29,561 postgraduate students will also be receiving their certificates.

MU will also award gold medals to 16 students from various departments for their achievements.

For the first time, MU will conduct the ceremony online, live on Youtube and its website.

Students will get the certificates at their institutes or departments.