Semester exams for LLM students of the University of Mumbai will go on till June this year. (Express File Photo)
Semester exams for LLM students of the University of Mumbai will go on till June this year. Following concerns over a clash in dates of the second semester examination and re-examinations for first semester papers, the university has pushed the re-examination dates from May 23 to June 6. “The last paper of the second semester examinations of LLM students was earlier clashing with the first paper of the re-examination. So we have postponed the re-examination dates,” said an official from the university’s board of examination and evaluation.
LLM students, meanwhile, are in a fix. As a result of last year’s chaos regarding results and a delay of over five months in declaration of LLB results, admissions to LLM courses were done until January. Immediately after the last day of admissions, the first semester exams were held, which students had opposed. In a relief to students, the Bombay High Court had allowed students to skip the first semester exams and take the re-examination along with the second semester exams. Many of the 660 students in the LLM course had opted for the same.
While the university has addressed the problem of clashing dates, students were unhappy with the university’s administration. “Since many students had decided to skip the first semester exam in January, the re-examination is a main exam for at least 200 students. But the exam starts right after the Semester II exams, giving students hardly any time to prepare,” said Sachin Pawar, a law student.
“The university has not yet declared the results of Semester I, III and V examinations, neither has it declared the revaluation results. The academic calendar of the law faculty has gone for a toss. With examinations being pushed to June, results and the subsequent semesters will be further delayed,” said Pawar. The university is yet to declare the results of around 18 programmes which had around 45,000 students. The law department is particularly under pressure over assessment owing to a shortage of assessors as most lectures are conducted by working professionals — lawyers and chartered accountants.