Months into PhD course,univ asks students to take entrance test

Now,nearly 150 students admitted as per the old rules have been asked to take an “entrance test” on February 27. These students,who registered for PhD courses between July 11,2009 and November 18,2010,now run the risk of being disqualified if they don’t pass the entrance test.

Deeptaunshu Pusalkar,one of the affected research students,said,“Almost half my research work is done and five of my research papers too are published,how can they ask us to appear for a pre-admission test at this stage. I have no problem if they implement an entrance test,but they should not force us to appear.”

“We are all confused. Will it be just appearing for the test or will they also change our research topic and guide? When we approach the authorities to clarify,they said they will let us know. The date for test has been announced and there is still no reply from them,” said another student.

Controller of Examinations Prof Vilas Shinde said the students will have to wait for a decision by the varsity’s Academic Council. “The matter will be discussed in the next Academic Council meeting and a decision taken,” he said. Ironically,the varsity has not even formed the Academic Council for the year.

After attempts by the students to reach the university authorities failed,they have now approached the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidhyarthi Sena (MNVS) for help. “We have got an appointment with Vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Welukar on February 7. The university must work on curbing the number of goof ups made by its employees,as this could ruin the careers of many students,” said MNVS vice-president Sainath Durge.