MU to recheck 10% papers to see if assessment was flawed

After students got poor scores in the Master of Law (LLM) exams, the University of Mumbai (MU) has decided to recheck a sample number of answer sheets to see if there was a problem with the assessment.

After receiving flak from the student community about the poor LLM results, in which 85% students failed the exams, vicechancellor Sanjay Deshmukh has agreed to re-evaluate the answer sheets of 10% of the students who failed the LLM exam this semester for free. Usually students pay Rs 500 to get an answer paper rechecked.

“We have demanded that re-evaluation of all answer sheets be done free of cost. However, he said that based on the re-evaluation results of 10% papers they will decide the future course of action,” said Sudhakar Tamboli of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS), a student union, who met with Deshmukh on Saturday.

Of the 703 students who appeared for the first semester LLM exams, 85% failed and many of the unsuccessful students blamed poor assessment for bad results and said that most LLM papers were assessed by teachers from LLB course as there is dearth of examiners for evaluation of answer sheets of postgraduate courses.

A professor from the department of law said the high rate of failure could be a result of the university rushing the assessment. “I have learnt that the papers were assessed within a couple of days by visiting faculty,” the pro fessor said.

MNVS has demanded that re-evaluation of all LLM papers should be conducted without charging any fee from the stu dents. “Deshmukh told us that this decision will be taken based on the re-evaluated marks of the 10% papers. If it is proved that stu dents were wrongly failed, then he will conduct re-evaluation of all papers for free,” added Tam boli.

HT had previously reported that the university was also plan ning to postpone the dates for re-examination of LLM and LLB papers, since there are many stu dents who have failed in both the exams and have sought time for re-evaluation.

“We have also found out that unlike LLB, where the question paper is available in English as well as Marathi, no such option is available in LLM. We have demanded that the option of appearing for the paper in Mara thi be extended to LLM students as well, and the V-C has agreed to look into it,” said Tamboli.

OF THE 703 STUDENTS WHO APPEARED FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER LLM EXAMS, 85% FAILED AND MANY OF THE UNSUCCESSFUL STUDENTS BLAMED POOR ASSESSMENT FOR BAD RESULTS