DU Departments Cancelled PhD and MPhil Interviews
Rajya Sabha member, Manoj Jha raised an issue in the Lok Sabha on Friday. This was done following the uproar over the admission process of MPhil and PhD programmes in the University of Delhi. Now, two DU departments cancelled PhD and MPhil interviews that were conducted recently.
Due to the new University Grants Commission (UGC) norms, several MPhil and PhD seats are set to go vacant. Under the new process, an applicant must score 50 per cent in the entrance exam to be eligible for the interview.
Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha, who is also a teacher at Delhi University said in the house,”The eligibility criteria of scoring minimum 50% in the entrance examination for MPhil/ PhD interviews has left students, especially from SC, ST, and OBC sections, in a state of deprivation. Criteria have been provided in the UGC Regulation 2016 for MPhil/ PhD Implementation of this criteria along with introducing online test in a hurried manner has cost students coming from socially and economically weaker background very heavily across universities. The result of DU bears the testimony of social exclusion too.”
He requested a review on an urgent basis. He also was the one who asked for cancellation of the interviews. That is why DU departments cancelled PhD and MPhil interviews.
Jha also added,”In the absence of any eligible candidates in the reserved category, seats will not be filled this year, and thus, will be lost forever. So departments should be allowed to conduct tests afresh so vacancies can be filled up. This anti-student and anti-social justice criteria must be reviewed on an urgent basis, to which the minister has given favourable assurance.”
Many protesting students have demanded the scrapping of the new eligibility formula. They have hailed this as a violation of the reservation norms and social justice in admission procedure. The All India Students’ Association(AISA) condemned this act as an act against higher education.
Are the DU departments cancelled interviews justified? Is the eligibility criteria imposing? What is your opinion?
