Paper setters behind question paper goof-up, say Mumbai University officials

A section of students appearing for their electronics instruments and measurement exam said that question paper was a copy of the paper given to the May 2015 repeater candidates.

The Mumbai University officials have blamed the paper setters for the goof-up during the second year engineering examinations that took place on Friday. A section of students appearing for their electronics instruments and measurement exam said that question paper was a copy of the paper given to the May 2015 repeater candidates.

The examination was held across centers on Friday and while students did not find anything fishy on the day of the examination, they got back to their professors on Saturday. (HT file photo)

“Inquiry is on but it is very clear that the paper setters are at fault. We will wait for the final inquiry report before deciding the next move as per the University law,” said M A Khan, registrar, MU. He added that first hand inquiry shows “carelessness” on part of the paper setters. “It is one thing to have some similar questions, but to have an identical paper from previous year is unacceptable,” added Khan.

The examination was held across centers on Friday and while students did not find anything fishy on the day of the examination, they got back to their professors on Saturday. “We have received the complaint but being a weekend, there hasn’t been much development in the inquiry. Early next week, we should be able to point at the cause of this problem and have more clarity,” said Suresh Ukrande, dean (in-charge), of the engineering faculty.

After getting confirmation from University officials about the 2015 and 2016 question papers being identical, students are now worried about re-examination. However, MU officials said that there were no plans for that at the moment. “Taking any hasty decision, before getting to the root of this problem will serve no purpose. We will first find out why something like this happened, despite having clear rules in place. Students, in the meantime, should concentrate on their examinations,” added Ukrande.