His story can't be History: Mahatma Gandhi University students

Kochi: The history students of Mahatma Gandhi University have urged the university authorities to end the obnoxious practice of treating an MA degree in Gandhian Studies and Peace Science as equivalent to an MA degree in history.

The students have made a representation in this regard to the academic council of the university meeting on June 18.

Sources said treating both degrees as equivalent is an academically unacceptable practice.

“I don’t think that such a practice exists in any other university,” a senior academic who declined to be identified told DC on Wednesday.

Normally, equivalency certificates are issued to students having the degree in the same subject from other universities. But, granting equivalency certificate for two separate courses run by the same university is not heard in the academic world.

The practice of the MG varsity is against the norms prescribed by the University for granting of equivalency, sources said.

According to an order issued by the university in this regard in 2012, one of the main criteria for granting of equivalency and recognition, of course, is that “at least 75 percent of the content” of both courses should be similar.

"The course content of MA in Gandhian Studies and Peace Science and MA in history offered have no similarities as stipulated by the university order. If it is the same why should the university run separate courses?" asked a student of history.

The practice of granting equivalency is allowing students having MA in Gandhian Studies and Peace Science to masquerade as historians and get teaching posts in aided colleges.

In 2008, the University had issued an order for granting equivalency to MA in Gandhian Studies and MA in history. The practice later was withdrawn as many persons questioned the academic merit of such a practice.

The university authorities brought the system through the backdoor by issuing sanction on a case-by-case basis. In the latest, such a person working as an assistant professor of history in one of the private colleges sought equivalency as his MA was in Gandhian Studies.