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Colleges refuse to refund Mumbai university students’ provisional fees
Due to the delay in results caused by the assessment mess at MU, many students had been given provisional admissions. However, some of these students were eventually declared failed by the varsity.
Colleges in the city have refused to refund the fees paid by the University of Mumbai (MU) students who were given provisional admission but couldn’t be enrolled as they failed to clear their degree examinations, activists have alleged.
Due to the delay in results caused by the assessment mess at MU, many students had been given provisional admissions. However, some of these students were eventually declared failed by the varsity.
Nationalist Students Congress (NSC) has claimed that they received complaints from around 10 such students who were provisionally admitted to various post-graduation courses, but were denied refund after they sought to cancel their admissions.
Amol Matele, president NSC said that the problem has been compounded by the fact that some of these students who had applied for photocopies of their answer sheets are yet to receive them. Others are still waiting for the results of the re-evaluation of their papers. “The students are afraid to file complaints with MU, but the university should take care of them,” he said.
However, Thakur College, Kandivali - one of the institutes alleged to have refused to return the fees by the activists - has denied the allegation. “We have refunded the fees of all the students who didn’t qualify,” said Chaitaly Chakraborty, principal of the college.
During last examination, the varsity had switched from traditional pen-and-paper method of assessment to an on-screen marking system (OSM). The decision caused a huge delay in declaring results, as varsity staff and teachers took a while to come to terms with the new system. Many students were unable to pursue their higher education plans, while others lost job opportunities.
