MUMBAI: In what could be yet another adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of candidates completing their PhD and MPhil from Mumbai University has dropped drastically this year by 66%—from 413 last year to 140. In 2018, it was 332. In fact, the numbers have not gone below 250 in the last few years (see box).
Though the MU started conducting open defence viva online from May end, not many could complete it, say academicians. Also with the lockdown in place and no transport facilities, research students were hit and thesis submissions dropped significantly after March. Online submissions started a little later, but were slow. Academicians are hoping that the numbers will go up next year.
An official said that research centres are shut since the lockdown. “Transport was not available, labs were not operating. The online viva-voce were probably conducted for those students who submitted their thesis before the pandemic and a few during it,” said the official. The MU awarded 92 PhDs in the online mode during the pandemic. Rupali Patil, an electronics and telecommunication engineering student, was the first to complete her doctorate online in May last year, after her viva.
Chairman of Association of Non-Government Colleges, T Shiware, said that students could not travel during the lockdown and therefore, it was difficult for them to meet their guides physically. “All the work and the meetings were happening online. There was a slight delay in taking a decision on online thesis submissions. Also submitting it online was inconvenient for many,” he said.
A principal said the pandemic was largely responsible for the delay in research scholars completing their PhDs, but, MPhil is losing relevance after the National Education Policy and the drop in numbers may marginally impact the total. Also, arranging external experts for evaluating the thesis could have been a problem in the pandemic, he added.
The 140 PhD and MPhil candidates will be conferred with their degrees along with 1.91 lakh other graduating students in an online convocation ceremony on Monday. The total number of graduating students has gone up from last year’s 1.7 lakh to 1.9 lakh. More than 50% of these students—1.1 lakh—are from commerce and management faculty.