Sri Lankan clears DU’s MA but told his BA degree is not valid

NEW DELHI, September 11: Sri Lankan student Reverend N Suththa Thero's bachelor's degree from his native country is good enough for admis...

NEW DELHI, September 11: Sri Lankan student Reverend N Suththa Thero’s bachelor’s degree from his native country is good enough for admission to an MA course in Delhi University (DU), but not M.Phil. Or so the university authorities believe when they discovered that his BA degree was not equivalent to the one here.

Thero applied for M.Phil after securing a 70 per cent in his M.A. course in Buddhist Studies earlier this year. After receiving his rejection letter, Thero enrolled for B.A. (Hons) in English from Hindu College. Thero joined the post-graduate programme in Buddhist Studies in 1996, after his documents were verified by the foreign students’ advisor office and the Dean of the Arts Faculty. The admission was then cleared by the equivalence committee, which sees if the certificates of another country corresponds with the educational requirements in Delhi University. The final approval came from the admission committee.

The university is now looking at where the lapse could have occurred in Thero’s case. “There are a lot of verification points as far as the admission of a foreign student is concerned,” explains A.K. Sinha, Dean student welfare and member of equivalence committee. “We have to look into this case and see how he was admitted in a post-graduate course if his Sri Lankan qualifications were not compatible with ours”.

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Head of Buddhist Studies, Dr Bhikshu Satyapal says that correct procedure was followed during Thero’s admission. “We do recognise the Oriental Final Examination and the admission must have been made on that basis. As far as admission to the M.Phil course goes, well, probably he did not apply at all”.

According to procedure, any foreign qualification that is not cleared by either the students’ advisor office or the equivalence committee is sent to the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) for clearance. Thero’s paper were cleared in 1996 without any question marks. “I came to Delhi after clearing my Oriental final examinations in Sri Lanka,” says Thero. “The exam is like a BA degree here, except that it does not give any divisions. I did my MA but a lot of people later told me that because there were no divisions, the exam results would not be counted, more so when I apply for a job. There is a lot of competition, they say”.

Thero was given hostel accommodation on basis of the post-graduate course he was admitted to in 1996. Now he is pursuing an under-graduate course but he has been asked to vacate his International Student Hostel (ISH) room. Rules say that students can retain hostel accommodation provided they move up vertically.

ISH warden Dr K.N. Tripathi says: “There is a rule that students can retain their hostel rooms only if they move up vertically. So, for a student to continue in the hostel room, he has to go from doing a B.A. to a M.A. and then a M.Phil. Even cases where students get double MA degrees are not considered when hostel accommodation is allotted. This is just to ensure that new applicants get a fair chance”.

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Thero is now busy looking for alternative accommodation. He is not very clear on what the whole thing is about and is just hoping that he finds a place to live for the next three years quickly.

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