Hyderabad: Students protest for 23 vacant PhD seats

Hyderabad: About 22 departments in the University of Hyderabad did not call students on the waiting list for admissions, resulting in vacant seats for the MPhil and PhD courses. Alleging discrepancies in the admission process, students staged a protest on Tuesday.

The Ambedkar Students  Association (ASA) has also given a representation in this regard to the deputy registrar claiming that it is a violation of reservation policy in MPhil and PhD 2019-20 admissions.

Though 22 departments did not call candidates from the waiting list for the admission process, there are about 23 vacant seats left in about 10 departments in Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD), of which majority seats are from the reserved category. One of the students from Ambedkar Students Association said, “One of the most serious issues as far as admission process is concerned is the non-announcement of waiting list. Nearly 22 departments did not release any waiting list and this is a clear cut violation of the UGC guidelines. We demand immediate release of waiting list in all the departments concerned. Without the release of the waiting list, it is impossible to fill all the vacancies and also this can only lead to a situation wherein most of the reserved seats will go vacant.”

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, University officials accepted that seats have been left vacant but also stressed on the fact that, it's not just the seats in the reserved category but also the seats in the general category that have been left vacant.

Explaining the process, Vinod Kumar, head of the admissions grievance committee said that “Every year, the PhD admission happens in two phases, and the seats that are left vacant during the first session would be called in the second session, which is held in December, and one can say that the seats are left vacant only after both the admission sessions are completed.”

Mr Kumar added that the department and the faculty have the provision of selecting candidates and making recommendations of their choice in admissions based on the performance of students in the entrance and interviews. They can decide not to call candidates on the waiting list and re-advertise the vacant seats in the next phase of admission, as per university rules. So no rules have been violated, Mr Kumar said.

On Tuesday, the committee also had a discussion with the students and finalised that once again, the respective departments would be asked to reconsider calling the candidates on the waiting list. The decision from the departments is expected to be out in a couple of days. Meanwhile, all students can check the details of the admission process and the marks breakup on August 10 on the official website of the varsity.