BANGALORE: Cracking down on colleges which liberally award high marks in internal assessment to push up the pass percentage of students, the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has decided to amend the rules governing pass criteria in the university exams for MBBS students. The university has proposed to make it mandatory for MBBS students to secure a minimum of 50 per cent marks in exams conducted by the university (externals) from next year. If the proposal is approved by the academic council and the Syndicate — two key decision-making bodies of the university — at their meetings on November 24 and 25, MBBS students have to compulsorily secure at least 50 per cent marks in theory including orals and minimum of 50 per cent in practicals to be declared passed. Currently, students have to get 50 percent marks in internals and externals put together. There will, however, be no change in the existing rule which makes it mandatory for candidates to secure 35 per cent of marks in internal assessment to be eligible for the universityconducted theory and practical exams. “During random inspection of internal assessment marks in some colleges, we found large scale tampering of marks. There was no match between the actual marks scored by the student and the marks sent by the colleges to the university. By bringing in this amendment, we want to establish that IA marks cannot be clubbed with university exams (external) marks to declare a student as having passed the exam,” Vasantha Kumar, registrar, RGUHS, said. The RGUHS’ decision to amend rules is in line with the Supreme Court order which said that a student has to secure the following marks to pass: 35 per cent in IA (for eligibility to appear for exams); 50 per cent of the total marks for theory with orals (only externals); 50 per cent of marks for practicals (only externals) and 50 per cent of the aggregate (total of externals and internals).