Empowering supervisors to choose examiners of PhD theses may lead to malpractices: Kerala academics
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when there is a raging debate over the quality of PhD degrees awarded by universities, a key recommendation by the exam reforms commission regarding the evaluation of doctoral theses could pave way for malpractices and dilution of standards, academics have cautioned.
One of the recommendations of the commission appointed by the state government to suggest reforms to the examination system in universities is to fast-track the process of evaluation of doctoral theses. The proposal has come in the wake of the inordinate delay in the thesis evaluation process, which in certain cases takes more than a year. However, the recommendation empowering the research supervisor to choose the examiners has raised eyebrows.
"The list of 12 examiners prepared by the research supervisor shall be forwarded to the University. The examiner prioritised as No. 1 will be designated as the Chairperson for the thesis evaluation. The doctoral thesis shall be submitted to the first three examiners," recommends the Commission.
According to R Jayaprakash, former executive council member of Kerala State Higher Education Council, this would pave way for research supervisors to exert direct influence over the evaluators. At present, upon receiving the panel of examiners, it is the Vice-Chancellor of the university concerned who selects three examiners from the panel of 12 in order to maintain the confidentiality of evaluation.
"The new proposal will dilute the process and thereby undermine the value of the PhD degree awarded," Jayaprakash warned. He added that there have been instances in the past where universities have taken stern action on complaints of research supervisors trying to influence the panel of examiners. The new proposal will pave way for more such malpractices, he pointed out.
According to A Jayakrishanan, former vice-chancellor of the University of Kerala, the proposal on academic credit transfer is a forward-looking one but adequate homework needs to be done on it before its successful implementation. "While implementing the proposal, it should be done in a seamless, transparent and robust manner so that no questions are raised when a student tries to transfer academic credit from one university to another," he suggested.
Jayakrishnan, also a former IIT faculty, said the recommendation to do away with the practice of awarding weightage for classroom attendance comes at a time when prestigious institutions in the country still insist on a minimum of 85 % attendance. Another proposal to raise the weightage of internal examination to 40% from the current 20% has also been taken with a note of caution. A section of academics has warned that the proposal may be misused by some teachers in order to support students on the basis of their political preferences, leading to deserving students being sidelined.
"Our basic problem is that we don't trust the teachers, whereas in the advanced universities they entirely depend on teachers for grading. One possible solution is to indicate the name of the college to be mentioned in the mark list and degree certificate. Thus the institution will 'own' the graduate and take efforts to ensure quality," opined noted academic RVG Menon.
However, he welcomed administrative reforms recommended by the Commission such as time-bound admissions, exams and result announcements.
EXAM REFORMS - Pros & Cons
- Commission recommends sweeping reforms in examination system in universities
- Proposal on PhD thesis evaluation may lead to malpractices, warn academics
- Academic credit transfer welcome provided it is implemented seamlessly
- Thumbs up to time-bound admissions, exams and result announcement
- Thumbs down to proposals on attendance & raising internal assessment marks