MU to hold common exams only for BCom, BSc, BA

MUMBAI: The University of Mumbai (MU) may not be able to implement its plan to set question papers and prepare exam schedules for all courses from this year. As

MUMBAI: The University of Mumbai (MU) may not be able to implement its plan to set question papers and prepare exam schedules for all courses from this year. As of now, authorities have decided to implement this only for traditional courses such as BCom, BSc and BA.

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The move comes barely three months after the varsity decided to introduce a common exam system to ensure that the credit system functions effectively. The academic council had decided to not only bring out a common exam schedule for colleges affiliated with MU, but also set a common paper for all courses.

“The idea to introduce a common question paper was to bring about uniformity in colleges. As of now, we will focus on traditional courses which have the maximum number of students,” said M A Khan, registrar of MU.

He added that for the time being, committees have been set up by the varsity to put together question papers and decide on a common exam schedule for all six semesters of BCom, BSc and BA examinations that will be held sometime in October.

“Next year onwards, all courses can be considered for a common examination process,” he added.

Officials have still not confirmed whether colleges will be allowed to set their own question papers and schedules for other self-financed courses such as Bachelors in Management Studies (BMS), Bachelors in Mass Media (BMM), BCom in Accounting and Finance (BAF) and others.

“When the university decided to have a common examination schedule, it obviously didn’t account for the fact that most colleges work in shifts to accommodate all the students of various departments. It is not possible for a college to hold an exam for all its students in one go,” said the principal of a suburban college.

Many principals were happy with not having to follow MU’s schedule.

“Third year exams are already conducted by MU and that itself leads to many errors as it conducts more than 400 exams every semester and it is difficult to handle lakhs of students each year. Taking responsibility for more students was a wrong move in the first place,” said the BMS coordinator of a city institute.