Dissertation system likely to go

The 200-mark dissertation was optional for final year M Com students in lieu of two theory papers of 100 marks each. The arrangement not only saved students from preparing for the theory papers, but came handy for the Faculty to depute teachers either junior teachers or those incompetent to handle theory papers as student guides.

The moment the final year of the academic session began every year, the students were asked to choose a topic from about two dozen fixed topics, passed down from more than a decade ago when the system was introduced.

Everything went smoothly till the detractors of Vice-Chancellor Ashwin Kapadia flushed out a copy of his daughter Krishna8217;s dissertation in September barely a month after he took over and the one on which it was based. Krishna8217;s dissertation matched with the original, submitted eight years ago, word by word, figure by figure, error by error.

There was little the vice-chancellor could do but to admit that 8220;ninety-nine per cent of the students do the same thing.8221; He was also forced to appoint a committee to go into the issue and submit its report along with recommendations.

Though the report was submitted a long time ago, the Commerce Faculty took it up for discussion only on Tuesday. After browsing through a number of dissertations, the committee concluded that there were very few original efforts.

The committee did not directly recommend scrapping the system, but observed that it should be continued only if the students were introduced to research methodology. It also questioned the very nomenclature 8212; dissertation 8212; saying that if anything, it should be called a project report.

It couldn8217;t be called a malpractice because students were never given to understand that what they were doing was not illegal in the first place. 8220;Unlike theory papers where the university prescribes punishment for copying or any irregularity, its rules are silent on dissertations,8221; a member said, adding, 8220;It was a practice that continued because no one objected to it.8221;

A committee member said neither students nor guides were interested in theory classes which are also a must for completion of dissertation. Both used to pull their acts together just before the final examination and copy from the earlier dissertations.

Kapadia is obviously a happy man with the outcome. 8220;My stand has been vindicated. All along I maintained that the system was rotten but still a case was being made out against my daughter. It was a common malpractice where the college principal and the guide were parties,8221; he claimed.

The arrangement helped accommodate incompetent teachers, who were asked to become guides, because they could not teach theory properly, he added. No wonder his detractors are unhappy. They contend there was no need to remove the system as it was optional and, in fact, the university authorities were to be blamed for perpetrating the fault for so long.