A day after the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) released its admission notification for its December intake, announcing 720 seats for M.Phil/Ph.D courses, the varsity’s teachers’ association as well as the students’ union said the announcement was arbitrary as the academic bodies of the institution were not consulted.
The announcement is, however, seen as an improvement from the 100 seats it offered instead of the usual 1,000 seats.
Since January, students and teachers at the JNU have been in disagreement with the administration that had implemented the UGC Gazette Notification, 2016 that led to a reduction in number of seats at the university.
JNUTA president Ayesha Kidwai said the way the intake has been calculated was utterly shameful. “The Centre for Linguistics had zero admissions in 2017-18. From the 2016 batch, three students are working with me for M.Phil, but they will finish in July 2018. So, I should be able to take four M.Phil students as per the UGC Regulations 2016. However, the Centre for Linguistics is at a big fat zero for admissions again,” she said.
‘JNUTA will need time’
“The JNUTA will take some time to come out with a statement and analyse the intake figures. But one thing is clear — wherever maximum capacity has been advertised, the 2019-20 admissions will see zero (or close to) figures again,” she added. Some students, however, saw the increase in the number of seats as a victory of their movement against the seat cut, and feel the number of seats, though not close to the pre-UGC notification figures, will open the doors to several applicants who were missing out on an opportunity to study at the University.
Satarupa Chakraborty, from the outgoing union, who spearheaded the agitation against seat cuts, said, “The increase in seats is a result of the prolonged struggle. It must continue till we fight back the UGC Gazette successfully, get back our hard-earned deprivation points, implement Nafey Committee recommendations and get the reservation policy implemented in toto.