Showing posts with label University of Mumbai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label University of Mumbai. Show all posts

Thursday, July 1, 2021

Soon, Mumbai University to offer engineering in Marathi

MUMBAI: Engineering will soon be offered in Marathi. Undergraduate commerce subjects will have credits for research. Emerging subjects such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning will figure in the course offerings of Mumbai University (MU).

MU’s academic council, which met on Tuesday, cleared the decks for a host of new initiatives. It also declared the new academic calendar open from June 14 with the first term ending on October 30 and keeping in mind festivals such as Ganeshotsav and Diwali. The second term would begin on November 15 and close on May 1, with a break during Christmas. The academic session of 2022-23 will start from June 12, 2022.

Earlier, the All India Council for Technical Education approved a proposal to teach engineering in regional languages. “There will be radical changes in teaching of engineering under the faculty of science and technology. AICTE’s recommendation to teach engineering in regional languages was also approved in today’s meeting. Therefore, engineering will soon be offered in Marathi in affiliated colleges of MU. At the same time, courses in emerging new subjects have been introduced in eight areas of engineering keeping in view the industrial needs,” said an academic council member. These include artificial intelligence and data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cyber security, internet of things, data engineering, computer science and engineering (data science), computer science and engineering (internet of things and cyber security, including blockchain technology).

For the first time, research field case studies will be included in the university to enhance student skills and improve their proficiency in a particular field. “Case studies will be introduced in the fourth semester of BMS (bachelors in management studies), BAF (bachelors in accounting and finance) and BBI (bachelors in banking and insurance) courses under commerce. For this, 30 hours have been set aside and two credits will be awarded. Field case studies will also be conducted for botany, zoology and chemistry under science and for economics, geography, sociology and anthropology,” said a dean.

For administration, the concept of schools has been approved and would be implemented to bring various subjects under one umbrella. Students will be able to pick subjects under various disciplines. The academic council approved establishment of various schools such as those for Indian and foreign languages, social sciences and performing arts. To create awareness about National Cadet Corps, nod has been given to introduce it as an optional subject. There are NCC units in 68 colleges. 


Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/soon-mumbai-university-to-offer-engg-in-marathi/articleshowprint/83968185.cms

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

No more black robes, Mumbai University will now graduate to traditional Indian wear

TNN | Sep 17, 2019, 08.25 AM IST

MUMBAI: Indian traditional wear will replace black ceremonial robes and hats at Mumbai University’s convocation this year. A university-appointed committee will also recommend the use of comfortable fibre instead of the synthetic ones used currently.

Aimed at promoting Indian culture, the proposal to do away with black robes, floated by a member, was accepted by the university in its management council meeting last week. The experts’ committee, comprising designers and textile engineers, will be appointed on Wednesday. The university is planning to introduce the new attire at this year’s convocation ceremony, scheduled in October-end or the first week of November.


Apart from the black robes and hats for gold medallists and top rankers, a sash is also currently used for graduating students. The dignitaries, including chief guests, the vice-chancellor and university officials participating in the convocation procession, wear cream-yellow robes. These will also be replaced with the new attire.

Several universities across India are slowly replacing colonial-era ‘western’ robes with traditional Indian clothes for convocation ceremonies following a central directive. In June, the University Grants Commission issued a circular emphasising, not for the first time, “the use of ceremonial robes made of handloom fabric which will not only add to the country’s pride, but also be more comfortable in the hot and humid weather”.

Varsity panel all set to select comfy, desi wear

Closer home, IIT-Bombay switched to Indian wear a few years ago. Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), too, replaced the robes with Indian wear—sarees and salwar-kameez for girls and kurta-pyjama for boys—two years ago. Several state governments have already made Indian wear mandatory for convocation ceremonies.


Vice-chancellor of Mumbai University Suhas Pednekar, who accepted the proposal in the management council meeting, said the experts committee will recommend three to four designs, of which one will be selected. “The idea is to introduce something that will go with our Indian culture and ensure good-quality, comfortable clothes are worn at the convocation. The decision will be entirely based on suggestions made by the experts committee,” he said.


A senior university official said affiliated colleges will have the freedom to choose the attire for their students. “The robes are not comfortable, and the hats fall off most times. There have been complaints about use of poor-quality material in making robes, which adds to the discomfort,” the official said. The committee will be asked to make two suggestions—one for students and one for the dignitaries.


For the past few years, colleges too have been conducting their own degree distribution ceremonies and many of them rent out the black robes and hats for students.


Senate member Pradeep Sawant said the idea had been under consideration from January this year, when the convocation ceremony for the 2018 graduating batch was held. “When a discussion on the schedule for the convocation came up in the management council meeting, a member floated the proposal again. It was unanimously passed and accepted,” Sawant said.


Thursday, August 29, 2019

UGC notice to University of Mumbai over blind eye to 'plagiarism' woes

Students feel the varsity is stimulating the 'copy-paste' culture among the students by not abiding the UGC policies.



Mumbai University

In May this year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had sent a notice to the University of Mumbai (MU) regarding detection and prevention of plagiarism manual. This letter was in response to a complaint sent by a PhD student of the varsity, citing the problems students are facing when it comes to writing and preserving their thesis or dissertation. However, as per Shodhganga – a digital repository of the thesis by UGC – from the year 2010-18, MU has uploaded only 122 total thesis meanwhile Savitribai Phule Pune University in the same period has uploaded 1,243 thesis.

Students feel the varsity is stimulating the 'copy-paste' culture among the students by not abiding the UGC policies.

"Technically, if you upload a thesis on Shodhganga, if it has any plagiarized substance in it, it will draw a red line on it which will refrain from completing the uploading process," a senior professor and a PhD holder explained. She continued, "However since this isn't existing, students will be free to copy and paste just for the sake of completing their thesis or dissertation."

UGC's anti-plagiarism policy allows up to 10 per cent content similarity or reference from elsewhere in their thesis. Anything exceeding it will be asked to withdraw from the manuscript. "My dissertation must be lying around somewhere and I wouldn't even know if it's being copied by somebody else. In case I need it in the future, nobody will even believe if I had written in because there won't be any authenticity," a student told DNA on the condition of anonymity.

Ravindra Kulkarni, pro-Vice Chancellor of MU while said, "The library and the thesis section at the university have limited manpower and only a couple of anti-plagiarism software. In order to resolve this, the existing Thesis Section is being converted into a department and will be shifted from the Fort campus to Kalina campus." He also said that henceforth every work attached to the thesis and dissertation will be completed with a year.

Online ArchiveA thesis uploaded in Shodhganga, a digital repository, is considered authentic, and students bear a ‘certification of originality’ by University Grants Commission

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Mumbai University’s distance learning wing hopeful to get UGC recognition

In June 2017, the UGC had issued a notification to regulate distance learning courses offered across the country that required institutes to seek the regulator’s recognition for these courses

After it was dropped from the University Grants Commission (UGC)’s list of approved distance education institutes, the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL) of the University of Mumbai (MU) said it was hopeful of making it in the fresh list, which expected in a week.
In June 2017, the UGC had issued a notification to regulate distance learning courses offered across the country that required institutes to seek the regulator’s recognition for these courses. IDOL did not figure in UGC’s first list of recognised institutes, issued in August 2018, as MU’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading had expired. IDOL also failed to show up in two consecutive updated UGC lists after that — one in January this year and another in the last week of June.
IDOL had to stop admitting students for courses in the current academic year because it did not get the UGC affiliation. Admissions to IDOL, which had begun in the first week of July, are on hold.
“IDOL didn’t figure in the last updated list because our expert committee visit had just concluded so obviously we had to wait for their report. Now that the report is submitted, we are sure the affiliation will come through in the subsequent list,” said Vinod Malale, public relations officer, IDOL.
“Since our application has been accepted and the visit by a UGC-appointed expert committee also completed, we are hopeful our name will show up in the next list,” added Malale.
According to the new rules, applicant institutes need to attain a NAAC score of 3.26 on a four-point scale before the end of the academic year 2019-20 and also get UGC affiliation. NAAC assesses and accredits higher education institutions in the country.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Now, just 1-day gap between engg papers at Mumbai University

MUMBAI: A month before the engineering exam is set to commence, Mumbai University has decided to reduce the gap of four to seven days given between each paper for preparation.

After a meeting held recently, a university official issued directives to all colleges, informing them about the need for creating a slot of 45 days for internship post exams. The decision has caused panic among students who plan their studies taking those leaves into account. An online petition, started a day ago, already has close to 20,000 supporters.

A message forwarded by the university’s dean of science and technology, SK Ukrande on Sunday, read, “Examinations will be conducted in two slots. Regular examinations will be held in the first slot and the ATKT (allowed to keep term) exams in the second. There will be only a day’s gap between two successive papers of the semester.” The regular exams are likely to be held from May 7 to May 22, and repeaters’ exams from May 23 to June 7. Students have been instructed to prepare themselves for the change in schedule and accordingly plan their studies. They have also been asked to plan for their internship in any industry from May 25 to July 7.


The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) recently stated students should mandatorily undergo internship for 600 hours during their BE/B Tech programme. Mumbai University, therefore, wanted colleges to facilitate a 45-day period during every vacation in the four-year programme – for first, second, third and final year students.


But the practice of giving preparation time before each paper is being followed for several years. Students claim the decision has come at the end of semester and can make it difficult for them to prepare. Students are worried some papers may clash. A student who signed the petition said there was no point in condensing the time-table as it would affect passing percentage of engineering students, which is already poor. “It is not possible to revise conceptual subjects in one day,” said a student. Another said the university should have announced this decision at the start of semester. The petition on change.org states students are overloaded with assignments and experiments for most of the year and there is enough pressure on students having ATKT.


A senior teacher claimed the decision was ad hoc and taken without discussion in the academic council meeting. “Also, there is a huge mismatch between number of students available and number of industries willing to take them for training,” said the teacher.


While the dean was unavailable for comment, Vinod Malale, spokesperson for the exam section, said the decision is not yet officially declared. “The university will take feedback from stakeholders,” he said. Another official said there was no point in dragging the engineering exam for a month when study leave is not given to students from any other programme. He added the university had recently shortened the timetable for TYBA exams too.
Source:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/now-just-1-day-gap-between-engg-papers-at-mumbai-university/articleshow/68263857.cms (Accessed on March 6, 2019)

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN)

Govt. of India approved a new program titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education aimed at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs, internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India so as to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India’s scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
In order to garner the best international experience into our systems of education, enable interaction of students and faculty with the best academic and industry experts from all over the world and also share their experiences and expertise to motivate people to work on Indian problems, there is a need for a Scheme of International Summer and Winter Term. During the ‘Retreat’ of IITs with Minister of Human Resource Development Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani on 29th June, 2014 at Goa, it was decided that “A system of Guest Lectures by internationally and nationally renowned experts would be evolved along with a comprehensive Faculty Development Programme not only for new IITs, IIMs, IISERs but also other institutions in the country.
For more details, please visit the below link:

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Building a blueprint

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Smaller sub-centres, cluster colleges, courses on oceanography and a training academy for examiners — the University of Mumbai’s perspective plan proposes several changes. Experts say efficient implementation and administration will be key to driving chan

Instead of just the Fort and Kalina campus, if other University centres are granted more powers and administered well, each can tackle issues faced by the students in that region. SUDHAKAR TAMBOLI, former senate member of MU
Ashish Chawla, 20, a third-year student of information technology at Thadomal Shahani Engineering College in Bandra, still remembers how he had to visit the University of Mumbai’s (MU) Kalina campus multiple times to ask for his revaluation results, after he failed in his math paper in June. “Technically, it should have come out in August last year, so that if I still didn’t qualify I would have enough time to prepare for the December exams,” says Chawla.
While everybody else got their results in the first week of September, Chawla was still waiting to know what happened with his paper. “I had to run to the university several times to figure that there were still some formalities left and that my results would appear in the next list,” recalls Chawla. He finally received his results on September 25.
Aside from issues with examination, a student at MU has limited course options, outdated syllabi and few opportunities for independent research. This may change if the university’s perspective plan for 2016-17 is implemented.
In the upcoming academic year, the university plans to introduce reforms that not only make the administration of affiliated colleges smoother, but also offer more interdisciplinary and relevant course options to students. Additionally, the university has plans to begin a law college exclusively for women and 66 new colleges in the state, focus on enhancing Marathi language, categorising affiliate colleges into weak, reasonable and excellent It is clear that a lot of thought has gone into the preparation of such an exhaustive plan. Even if it yields 50% of what it aims to, it will be beneficial to the higher education scene in the state. MANJU NICHANI, principal of KC College, Churchgate colleges based on NAAC ratings and an academic audit.
MU’s two-part perspective plan (PP) is a document that lays out the vision for the functioning of the body for the next five years. According to university officials, Part 1 of the plan deals with the body’s long-term plans and points under Part 2 will be implemented from the next academic session, which is 2016-17. Under the long term plans, MU will be divided into various sub centres, which will be called UoM1, UoM2, and so on, for better administration; and form clusters of colleges, where the lead college will be an autonomous entity with powers to restructure the undergraduate programmes, states the PP document.
“The university already has close to 750 colleges and we are definitely overburdened with administration work. If the state government approves, we will look to strengthen the existing sub centres and start more in areas that require one,” says Anil Patil, director of the newly-appointed Board of College and University Development (BCUD), a body responsible for the formulation of the draft plan.
According to registrar MA Khan, the vice-chancellor was assisted by 21 academics in framing the guidelines for the document and also follows recommendations from the Narendra Jadhav committee on reforming higher education in the state. “The plan is open to suggestions from academics and will be considered till next year. The last date for submission of proposals for starting new colleges or courses is December 31. Hereafter, with proper verification and validation, the plan will be implemented with immediate effect,” says Khan.
While some of these points already existed in the previous perspective plans, academicians believe that it needs proper implementation to yield desired results. “It is clear that a lot of thought has gone into the preparation of such an exhaustive plan. Even if it yields 50% of what it aims to, it will be beneficial to the higher education scene in the state,” says Manju Nichani, principal of KC College in Churchgate.
A look at some of the new proposals under the plan.
NEW IN TOWN
Under PP 2016-17, there are 66 new proposed colleges, with 47 set to offer graduate courses, 17 to offer professional courses and two to offer postgraduate courses. Among the 13 proposals in Mumbai, four are law colleges including a women’s exclusive college, two night colleges, three arts, science and commerce colleges (of which two are for women), and one each for BEd and fine arts. Besides, one architecture college and one college offering post-graduate programme, is also proposed.
“We cannot overlook the increasing number of students in the state and thus, it becomes imperative to offer them more and specialised options,” says Nichani. “Moreover, there are good managements who are keen to offer good quality education and they should get an opportunity to set up quality institutes in the state.”
However, experts seem divided over the university’s plan to add more colleges. “The university should f i rst l ook to develop its existing subc entres and colleges,” says Sanjay Vairal, former senate member of MU. “There is budget allocated for it, but e ve - rything goes unused due to lack of visionary members in the committee.” He further says that the university is supposed to conduct an area survey before deciding to start a new college. “It is imperative to find out student strength, demand for a course, industrial growth, among other factors in an area to gauge the necessity of a college there. In the absence of this, these colleges will only add to the messy administration.”
BREAKING IT DOWN
For administrative convenience, it has been proposed under the plan that the university be broken down into several smaller ones and will be called UoM1, UoM2, and so on. This is mentioned in Part 1 of the document, which, says Patil of BCUD, is a visionary plan and will be done in due course if the state government approves of it. While this is a practical approach meant to ease the process, some feel that this will need a rigid plan for proper implementation.
“There will have to be proper synchronisation between all the university sub centres, otherwise it could well just become a power game between various campuses,” says Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College in Churchgate. “They can start any number of sub centres but then they will require satellites to monitor them.”
“Currently, students from far off places like Thane and Ratnagiri also need to come all the way to the Fort or Kalina campus to solve their issues,” says Sudhakar Tamboli, former senate member .“If the sub centres are g ranted more powers and administered well, each centre can take care of students in that region.”
To further simplify administration, there are also plans to club colleges under clusters where the lead college will have powers to restructure undergraduate programmes. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Why would any college want to be governed by any other college and not a university?” says Wadia.
Nichani of KC College too feels that this is not a viable option. “Every college has its own vision and that might not correspond with the lead college’s vision. I don’t see it as a practical solution to anything.”
STRENGTHENING RESEARCH
While the plan talks about strengthening research, there aren’t any specifications as to how it will be done. “The research scene in the university is extremely poor,” says Vairal. “The university doesn’t even maintain a list of guides in the department. Some of them in their list are either retired or are not even alive.” He further says that unlike any other university, there is no open defence viva for PhD students and thus they easily acquire the degree without any quality research.
“There is no value of a lab research unless it is done in collaboration with the industry and can be implemented in real life,” says Nichani.
Apart from the above mentioned proposals, the PP also proposes for development of a training academy for all administrative staff, including those working in the examination department, increase digital footprint of the university, encourage skill development through community colleges, establish centres for training in entrepreneurship and start-ups and industrial parks for incubation of these startups, introduce interdisciplinary courses, among others.
“Community colleges is a good concept and can be helpful to students in the rural areas as well,” says Tamboli. ‘However, the university needs to propagate it well among students and look to market it in a better way.”
For immediate implementation from the next academic session, the plan proposes to start various degree, diploma and certificate courses in cultivation of bamboo and canned industry, oceanography, marine biology and sports management.

For colleges wanting to offer postgraduate degree, they will need to have at least two successful batches of undergraduate courses.
Source: Hindustan Times dated 23 December, 2015

  • Hindustan Times (Mumbai) - Wed, 23 Dec 2015

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