2 months after results, MU yet to begin PHD, Mphil admissions
MUMBAI: Results for the preliminary eligibility test (PET) for PHD and Mphil aspirants were announced by the University of Mumbai (MU) in April. However, admissions for the courses are yet to take off.
In a call to speed up the pending admissions process, the varsity has now decided to decentralise the process for PHD and Mphil subjects, with plans to kick-off the procedure in the next couple of weeks.
“We have taken stock of the resources to make sure that we have appropriate number of guides for the students. By decentralising this admissions process, we’ll entrust each department to handle the oral exams so that the admission process can start, said B N Gaikwad, in-charge registrar, MU.
He added that the varsity is currently waiting to find out if oral exams for candidates can be conducted in physical form instead of online. “If the situation permits, we will push for face-to-face meetings, but it all depends on the Covid-19 situation. If left with no choice, the process will be conducted online,” added Gaikwad.
Before 2021, MU had conducted its last PET exam in December 2018, and the applications made headlines, with an almost 85% rise in PHD applicants.
From 3,350 and 3,333 applications in 2016 and 2017 respectively, the varsity received 6,168 applications in 2018, with the maximum being for the science and technology streams, followed by humanities, commerce and management sector.
After being unable to hold the exam due to various reasons in 2019 and due to Covid-19 in 2020, MU was expecting an even bigger turnout for the entrance exam this year.
“In 2018 itself we witnessed a rise in applications because the exam was held after a break of almost 16 months. This year, PET was held after over two years. So we were not surprised to receive 11,351 applications for PHD alone,” said a senior official from Mphil and PHD department of the university.
The university had originally planned to conduct PET in May 2020, for which registrations took place between February 27 and March 31.
But due to the national lockdown, MU could not conduct the entrance exam. This year, registrations began in January and were extended till March, in order to accommodate students who cleared their master’s programmes in December 2020, after which the entrance exam was held between March 25 and 27.
“The number of applications is almost double because applicants from last year and this year have applied together. We were also very happy to see almost 55% of the applications were that of female candidates,” said the MU official.
Experts, however, feel that the rise in PHD applications will not materialise into student count due to the lack of appropriate number of guides across various departments of the university.
At present, officials have confirmed that MU boasts of around 1,500 professors, associate professors as well as assistant professors who can work as guides with PHD as well as Mphil students. However, these guides are already working with enough number of students at present making it impossible for them to mentor anymore.
“MU is currently understaffed and the lockdown is making matters worse, leading to delay in basic work. I submitted my thesis in January, but the research and recognition committee (RRC) for my chosen subject has not met yet, which means my final interview based on my thesis has not taken place,” said a 36-year-old PHD student, who is waiting for this doctorate to apply for higher studies abroad.
“Without this PHD certificate, many like me can’t apply for higher studies or better job prospects,” he added.
Gaikwad, however, confirmed that RRCS for nearly 66 of 90 subjects have already been conducted, and the process is on for the remaining subjects as well.
“We are making sure that candidates who have already submitted their thesis are cleared by the individual departments at the earliest, so that the guides have more vacancies for new candidates,” added Gaikwad.
In 2020-21, the total number of PHD and Mphil degrees awarded at the annual convocation ceremony dropped by over 63% compared to 2019-20 academic year. Many blamed the Covid-imposed lockdown on the small number of doctorates awarded by the varsity this year.
Not only was the university and its various departments under complete shutdown for the first few months of the lockdown, but candidates also highlighted several other issues, including lack of proper e-learning resources, unavailability of remote access to science labs and/or libraries and poor internet facility, among others.