MU results mess: Students suffer, council lauds V-C for switch to online assessment

The council said the resolution was recognition of Deshmukh’s contribution towards replacing traditional pen-and-paper assessment method with the on-screen one.

Even as thousands of students continue to suffer owing to the results mess, the academic council of the University of Mumbai (MU) on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution to congratulate vice-chancellor (V-C) Sanjay Deshmukh for “his leadership in adopting on-screen marking (OSM) for all its exams”.

The council said the resolution was recognition of Deshmukh’s contribution towards replacing traditional pen-and-paper assessment method with the on-screen one (FILE)

The council said the resolution was recognition of Deshmukh’s contribution towards replacing traditional pen-and-paper assessment method with the on-screen one. “The decision to adopt the method was taken under the leadership of Deshmukh. The council believes it was a good decision, as the governor [Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who is also the chancellor of all universities] and the state government have endorsed it and decided to implement it in the next exam too,” said a university official, who was present at the council meeting.

The council, one of the statutory bodies of the university, takes decisions on academic matters. Except for the university’s office-bearers, all members of the council were appointed by Deshmukh, as the government had put an embargo on elections for statutory bodies.

The roll-out of the new process was full of hiccups -- teachers had a hard time assessing papers owing to technical glitches, while students had to wait for more than six months for their results.

The governor has “forced” Deshmukh to go on an indefinite leave, after the university failed to meet the July 31 deadline for results. Devanand Shinde, V-C of Shivaji University, Kolhapur, is now serving as the acting V-C at the MU.

A member of the academic council said, “Everyone says it [on-screen marking] is a good system. There are some lacunae from our side, more so from the information technology service provider.”

The university, however, plans to extend their contract with MertiTrac, the service provider, for another two-and-a-half years.

Sachin Pawar, president, students’ law council, a city-based student group, said, “I think the entire academic council should be sacked as they are responsible for the mess. Students don’t think Deshmukh deserves any kudos.”