Colleges offer computer labs to help students register online

MUMBAI: On Tuesday morning, more than a lakh students seeking admission in degree colleges tried to log onto the University of Mumbai’s pre-admission registration

MUMBAI: On Tuesday morning, more than a lakh students seeking admission in degree colleges tried to log onto the University of Mumbai’s pre-admission registration website, crashing the online system.

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For the next two days, the website continued to work erratically, with thousands of students unable to complete the mandatory registration. Panicked and anxious, many students and parents rushed to their colleges which went out of the way to help them.

Some colleges threw open their computer laboratories to the students and teachers and the staff helped students, who were unable to fill the forms at home, to complete the registrations.

Teachers have assured students that the website crash is probably a temporary technical problem that will be rectified soon. “Whenever there’s change in procedure, such mishaps are bound to occur,” said Geeta Ibrahim, principal, Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science, Churchgate.

The college allowed the students to use its cybercafé free of charge. Ibrahim said they received a bulk of the applications from in-house students (already registered with the college in junior classes).

ML Dahanukar College of Commerce and Mithibai colleges, both in Vile Parle, also opened their computer labs to allow students to register for the degree courses. The college teachers and technical staff of these colleges helped students fill the registration forms.

“If the website is slow, there isn’t much one can do. But when students completing the registration process at home get stuck, they tend to panic more. In college, they are assured of it being a widespread problem,” said Madhvi Pethe, principal, ML Dahanukar College of Commerce.

Shilpa Mehta, coordinator, computer science department, Mithibai College, said, “We not only resolved their queries, but also comforted them. We helped them select degree courses too.”

Some colleges decided to relax the norms a little to help students struggling with the dysfunctional portal.

For instance, students seeking admission through the in-house quota at RA Podar College of Commerce and Economics in Matunga, who couldn’t register online, were asked to submit their applications without formally registering on the university portal.

“These students and their parents had panicked as they are required to complete the registration online before applying at the college. So, we decided to accept their applications and asked them to register later,” said Shobhana Vasudevan, the college’s principal.