Mumbai university senate: Elected members discuss examination mess

Most members unanimously demanded that first and second-year examinations to be handed over back to colleges.

The first open senate at the University of Mumbai with elected members after three years brought together several members against one major problem that is plaguing everyone—chaos surrounding the examinations and results.

Many senate members have also highlighted the problem in teacher tagging by MeritTrac, which led to confusion amongst teachers at the time of assessment. (HT File)

Most members unanimously demanded that first and second-year examinations to be handed over back to colleges. Others questioned the reason behind re-hiring MeritTrac for On-Screen Marking (OSM) of university papers, especially after the chaos it caused last year. The university senate was hearing out an adjournment plea by one of the senate members on Friday evening.

“The law department seems to be the worst affected because for assessment, we need teachers to report for assessment duty but in most colleges, 95% of the teaching staff consists of practicing advocates so we can’t force them to report for assessment,” said Rashmi Oza, head of the department of law, MU. She has suggested to the senate as well as the acting vice chancellor to exempt law from OSM. “That way we can finish the assessment work quicker and announce results in time,” she added.

Many senate members have also highlighted the problem in teacher tagging by MeritTrac, which led to confusion amongst teachers at the time of assessment.

“For the time being, we have ensured that any technical glitches that had plagued the assessment process last year should not be repeated. MeritTrac has assured us that errors will be avoided as much as possible and our aim has always been to announce results in time,” said Devanand Shinde, acting vice chancellor, MU.