Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Credit and semester system rules flouted

G. Mahadevan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The repeated violation by some teaching departments of the admission rules of postgraduate courses of the University of Kerala run under the Credit and Semester System (CSS) is threatening to discredit the whole concept of CSS in the University.

Coming as it does at a time when the re-accreditation of the University by the National Council of Assessment and Accreditation is just a year away, the recalcitrance shown by these departments in following basic CSS procedures is seen by many academics as an indication of the level of control the university has over its departments.

On November 13, 2006, the University registrar sent a circular — Ac.D/2006 — to all Heads of Departments pointing out that some of them do not forward the rank-list of candidates for admission to postgraduate and M.Phil courses and also the list of candidates admitted. "Hence, All the heads of the University Departments are directed to: 1. forward details of rank-list of students for admission to the various PG courses and M.Phil. courses immediately after the same is finalised, and 2. forward the list of candidates admitted, immediately after the admissions are over," the circular read.

According to the rules of the University governing the preparation of rank-lists for admission to various courses, the Registrar and the Dean of the respective departments should countersign the rank-list prepared by the individual departments. Sources in the University said that some teaching departments prepare such rank-lists on their own, display them on the notice board and then directly go in for admissions.

"The departments are required to get the rank-list signed by the Dean concerned and then forward it to the Registrar. Only after the Registrar signs the list, can it be displayed on the notice board and used for admitting candidates," a Head of Department told The Hindu

The violation of admission rules, that begins with the rank-list, extends to not providing the details of the candidates admitted to a particular course in a teaching department. According to the rules of the CSS, the Head of Department should, within 15 days of effecting admission to a course, give the list of candidates admitted to the office of the CSS at Kariavattom. Along with this, a form for registering the course should also be sent.

A senior university official associated with the CSS office said some departments had sent the list of candidates admitted to a four-semester course only after the fourth semester examinations were over. "At the end of two years, we get a list of candidates admitted to a course. We are then asked to initiate the process of giving the mark-lists and the degree. Under our rules, however, such a course does not exist, as it has never been registered. Moreover, the CSS rules say that only those students who clear the first semester examinations can be promoted to the third semester. Some departments do not send us the mark lists of the first semester in time," the official said. In the case of one teaching department, the University has given `one-time exemption' from following these CSS rules for the past few years now. University sources also pointed out that the legitimacy of such unregistered courses and the degrees given subsequently can be challenged in a court of law.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kerala M.K. Ramachandran Nair said the University does have problems with some departments on this front. "But then the situation is much better than what it was some years ago when a whole lot of departments thumbed their nose at CSS rules. Now only a handful of departments remain to fall in line," he explained.

Getting these departments to fall in line with the University's rules may well be the first major challenge of the newly reconstituted CSS committee.

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