Mumbai university cannot hold final-year exams in students’ colleges

The board of examination (BoE) of the University of Mumbai (MU) on Thursday rejected a proposal to conduct the final-year exams for BA, BCom and BSc students in their own colleges.

The board of examination (BoE) of the University of Mumbai (MU) on Thursday rejected a proposal to conduct the final-year exams for BA, BCom and BSc students in their own colleges.

The exams for first-year and second-year students are conducted on college premises.

The proposal, put forth by the MU’s examination department, was aimed at making the examination process easier for students, who have to run around looking for their exam centres.

It would have relieved university staff of the administrative work of assigning exam centres to around one lakh students enrolled with more than 200 affiliated colleges across the city and Konkan region.

Deepak Wasave, officiating controller of examination and the head of BoE, said members of the exam body felt many unaided colleges don’t have adequate infrastructure to conduct university exams. They feel allowing students to write exams in their college increases the risk of malpractices.

The exams for first-year and second-year students are conducted on college premises. Students are assigned colleges other than the one they are enrolled in as exam centres. Students of professional courses — engineering, management, BEd and law — which are fewer in number compared to those enrolled in courses like BCom, are exempted from this norm.

“Currently, students get exam centres where they have never been before. They are, many times, in stuck on their way due to transport issues. While the students in the city can still manage to [to reach the examination centre on time], those in rural areas have a tough time,” Wasave had said on Wednesday.

The examination department had proposed to multiply the strength of its vigilance squad, which visits the examination centres to keep a check on malpractices.

The body had also suggested that many unaided colleges won’t be able to conduct exams effectively owing to poor infrastructure, with no CCTV cameras in exam halls.

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