Madras university mulls bringing in external examiners
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com 27.04.2018
Chennai:
University of Madras will review its Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) and include a provision for bringing in external examiners to evaluate answer scripts of students of the university departments.
Thiswasindicatedby vicechancellor P Duraisamy during his inaugural speech at the senate meeting on March 31 and reiterated during the syndicate meeting last Thursday. It came up when the marks in four of the six answer scripts of students from the journalism department had changed after reevaluation.
At present, professors teach the classes, frame the syllabus, set the question papers and also evaluate the answer scripts. CBCS rules mandate showing the scripts to students before making it public. “But there have been complaintsfrom studentsthatthissystem was notbeing followedin many departments,” said a university official.
Varsity professors said some heads run their departments like ‘personal fiefdom’. “They take only a few classes and set question papers as per their will. The marking also is random, with many getting too high and many getting too low marks. Another issue is that many departments have only oneor twostaff,with parttimelecturerssharing theburden,” said a university official.
This issue recently croppedup when 12studentsof the journalism department protested againsttheir headof department G Ravindran alleging that he was not taking classes regularly.
The system of external examiners is followed in autonomous colleges which charge students a higher examination fee.
“This can be replicated in the university departments, butitwillcostRs10lakh per year,” theofficialsaid.
A couple of department heads TOI spoke to said the university’s statute did not providefor such a rule. “Bringing in externalexaminerswill curb the academic independenceof thedepartments.The CBCS was framed to protect that,” a professor said.
Former headof thelibrary sciencedepartmentAAmudavalli said she was in favour of the change. “The university’s quality and integrity are at stake. There will be no room for manipulation if external examiners are brought in,” shesaid.
Duraisamy said in his speech that the purpose of CBCS would be defeated if transparency and a fair and objective evaluation system were not maintained. “We need to have aconduciveteaching-learning environment in the University departments,” hesaid.
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com 27.04.2018
Chennai:
University of Madras will review its Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) and include a provision for bringing in external examiners to evaluate answer scripts of students of the university departments.
Thiswasindicatedby vicechancellor P Duraisamy during his inaugural speech at the senate meeting on March 31 and reiterated during the syndicate meeting last Thursday. It came up when the marks in four of the six answer scripts of students from the journalism department had changed after reevaluation.
At present, professors teach the classes, frame the syllabus, set the question papers and also evaluate the answer scripts. CBCS rules mandate showing the scripts to students before making it public. “But there have been complaintsfrom studentsthatthissystem was notbeing followedin many departments,” said a university official.
Varsity professors said some heads run their departments like ‘personal fiefdom’. “They take only a few classes and set question papers as per their will. The marking also is random, with many getting too high and many getting too low marks. Another issue is that many departments have only oneor twostaff,with parttimelecturerssharing theburden,” said a university official.
This issue recently croppedup when 12studentsof the journalism department protested againsttheir headof department G Ravindran alleging that he was not taking classes regularly.
The system of external examiners is followed in autonomous colleges which charge students a higher examination fee.
“This can be replicated in the university departments, butitwillcostRs10lakh per year,” theofficialsaid.
A couple of department heads TOI spoke to said the university’s statute did not providefor such a rule. “Bringing in externalexaminerswill curb the academic independenceof thedepartments.The CBCS was framed to protect that,” a professor said.
Former headof thelibrary sciencedepartmentAAmudavalli said she was in favour of the change. “The university’s quality and integrity are at stake. There will be no room for manipulation if external examiners are brought in,” shesaid.
Duraisamy said in his speech that the purpose of CBCS would be defeated if transparency and a fair and objective evaluation system were not maintained. “We need to have aconduciveteaching-learning environment in the University departments,” hesaid.
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