NU not to tweak guide rules for outsider PhD aspirants

Nagpur: Dwindling number of scholars and demand for relaxing draconian norms, which have left several guides without PhD students, were among the key issues raised by members during the Academic Council meeting of Nagpur University on Tuesday.
Member Sanjeev Patankar placed a resolution seeking exemption for professors and students who possess necessary qualification for carrying out research but don’t belong to same college/institution or were unrecognized places of research.

The NU top brass comprising vice-chancellor SP Kane, pro-VC Pramod Yeole and acting registrar Neeraj Khaty virtually ruled out the exemption by telling the member that the university had framed guidelines as per University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.

In 2016, the NU had introduced stringent norm which mandated research to be carried out under a guide whose college/institution is a recognized place of research. A major drawback of the norm was that though several professors were approved PG teachers (fit to be guide), their college/institution lacked place of research recognition or vice versa.

The cap of having maximum eight scholars under professor, six under associate professor and four under assistant professor too hindered PhDs as most colleges didn’t have more than one or two teachers at a time. Hence, even if 50 seats were allotted to a place of research, most of them remained vacant as the guide had to be from the same college/institution.

Shikshan Manch president Kalpana Pande told TOI that her group would not accept the reply and intensify their demand for amending the norms. “UGC norms are not sacrosanct but mere recommendations. University can amend its PhD norms to ensure teachers don’t go without scholars for a long time,” she said.

Interestingly, before the resolution was placed, the Academic Council approved new norms for PhD/MPhil notified last month. The norms, which have impacted professors and students badly, have remained unchanged in the new norms too.

During the meeting, a proposal for setting up Tribal Study, Research and Training Centre in the name of 18th century Gond King Bakht Buland Shah too was placed. It was moved by Tarzan Gaikwad in the Senate meeting which had referred it to the council. However, the council only took note as the government is yet to approve the project.

In another important decision, the council approved 13 new vocational courses started by seven colleges including some well-known institutions like Hislop College, Kamla Nehru Mahavidyalaya and Sevadal Mahavidyalaya. The courses are designer jewellery making, consumer electronics, industrial waste treatment technology, tourism, animation and multimedia.

The courses had been approved by the UGC and the NU had granted affiliation to them for 2018-19. But, the courses were yet to get the approval from the state government.