In what came as a massive shock to the students aspiring to get an admission in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, the seats for in MPhil/PhD courses saw a drastic cut and saw a drop by 86 per cent with the university offering only 130 seats in the said course as per the new prospectus released for upcoming session 2017-1018.
The seats offered in in MPhil/PhD courses last year were 1048. The prospectus that was released on March 21 left a number of students and teachers protesting against the development. Following a number of departments in the university are left with no option but not to take any students. The departments that have resulted in having zero intake include School of Computer & Systems Sciences, School of Biotechnology and School of Computational and Integrative Sciences.
This particular development caused a stir with students and teachers resorting to burning effigies of the university and calling for a strike, Indian Express reported. The students even reportedly went on to burn the prospectus.
Reports suggest that the move is a result of the UGC gazette notification of May 2016 which states the number of students a faculty member can mentor. It was believed that a faculty member was guiding more than what they were supposed to. The school of international studies who had offered 238 seats last year is only offering 11 seats this year. While the school of Social Sciences who offered 340 seats last years is offering 14 seats this year.
“The entrance examination would be of qualifying nature with 50 per cent qualifying marks followed by viva-voce,” the prospectus stated.
Teachers have termed the list as “atrocious” and have condemned the prospectus asserting that it was wrong that some of the centres have no intake adding that it had to “tentative” because it needs approval from the centre.
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