Institutes can deny admission on disciplinary grounds: HC

An educational institute is "well within" its right to deny admission to a successful candidate if his presence adversely affects discipline, the Delhi high court has ruled.

"The right of an educational institution to either admit or deny admission is beyond dispute and no student has got a right to compel an institution that he should be admitted," a bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice R S Endlaw noted while dismissing a plea by a former Jamia Millia Islamia student against denial of admission.

The bench also said a selected student is entitled to admission, but "equally, it is the solemn responsibility on the part of the university to consider the past conduct of the student even if such student was ranked for the admission.

"If admission of the appellant is not conducive for good administration of the university and if it affects the discipline among other students, it would be well within its right to refuse admission," it said, pointing out that "responsibility" of an institute is to not only impart education but also to "inculcate" discipline.

Hamidur Rehman had filed a plea in HC that he was "arbitrarily" denied admission in M A (Persian) by JMI for academic session 2012-14, because he wanted to restore democracy in the form of student elections. Rehman said he ranked 21 in the test, held for admission for total 30 seats, but the university admitted only 20 students to deny him admission.

But the HC dismissed the appeal giving credence to reports from "heads of each of the departments, which stated that the appellant was offensive and aggressive against the university".

While an educational institution can't deny admission to such of those students who would be entitled to be admitted on the basis of ranking, the court said, but added that "equally, we are also not oblivious of the importance of discipline among students. Universities today have striven to ensure principled conduct for admission of students and the transition to higher education. The code of conduct is amongst the necessary elements which are known today for admission of any student in schools or universities".

Proposed amendments to Maharashtra Universities Act

The committee of technology-based examination reforms in state universities has suggested amendments to the existing Maharashtra Universities (MU) Act, 1994, to enable the use and integration of technology in the examination processes. Some of the key suggestions are:
There is a need to modify clause 32 (5e) of the MU Act to allow question bank or question paper bank systems. As of now, the clause states that: "The (exam) committee should obtain three sets of question papers in sealed covers in the respective subject. Chairman of the committee should draw at random one of such sealed covers containing question papers. The selected cover with seals intact should then be sent to the (printing) press."

Different universities such as the Maharashtra Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Science University ( MAFSU); Babasaheb Ambedkar Technical University ( BATU) and the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) have variations to the above mentioned clause in their corresponding acts, but to the similar effect. The clauses are needed to be modified to allow usage of IT in setting question papers with built in security measures.

Separate clause be inserted fixing responsibility on the pro-VC, dean or director of evaluation for imparting training to teachers and administrative staff on usage of technology, new trends in the assessment processes such as cognitive and summative assessment, creation and use of repository of questions, use of technology in paper setting and conduct of examination.

Changes needed to ensure that the controller of examination (CoE) or director of evaluation are part of the decision-making process instead of the prevailing system of being invitees on university committees. This will remove difficulties faced in recruitment of staff or availing of finances related to examination section.

Financial Requirement

For financing the information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives in state universities, the reforms panel has suggested that the larger universities, with surplus amount left from exam related revenue, may utilize the same for implementing IT initiatives.

Smaller universities may collaborate with the larger universities and enter into an agreement with service providers jointly. Due to a large number of students of both the universities combined and economies of the scale, the cost per student of the IT solution should be reduced in comparison to purchase of IT solution by smaller university on its own.

Smaller universities can share the infrastructure such as data centre, etc, of the larger universities and use in-house developed softwares of larger universities.

The universities may opt for either Capex-Opex or transaction-based fee models for funding IT initiatives. In the first model, the universities invest upfront in the capital expenditure (Capex) of deploying hardware and software solutions. In the following years, the expenditure is then limited to operational expenditure (Opex). In the second model, the universities employ services of a service provider whom they pay per use on number of transactions. The fee per transaction is fixed slab.

The committee has recommended that examination-related revenue should not be used as general revenue by the universities. It should be used only for examination related expenditure.

Panel against replicating US model for proposed 200 community colleges

Committee of state education ministers has recommended that proposed 200 community colleges should be called by a different name. Though highly successful in the US, the committee has said, not all its features can be imported to India due to socio-economic and socio-cultural differences between the nations.

The committee — headed by Archana Chitnis, minister of school education, Madhya Pradesh — has said these colleges, with equal emphasis on enhancing vocational and educational ability of students be given a "suitable indigenous name, which meets the character of these colleges aptly and meets the contemporary needs of the society and nation".

The committee that also visited the US to study community colleges has said in India these colleges should offer courses that are a mix of knowledge and skill components. Three year honours degree course could be broken into modules/credits specifying the total number of credits required for acquiring a degree. The skill component of the curriculum should be separately drawn.

It has been recommended that these colleges should specify the credit requirements for awarding other qualifications like certificate, diploma, advanced diploma so that those who join after class XII and want to leave should have some qualification. These colleges have also been asked to offer short-term courses of various durations to the learners in areas where no formal qualification would be needed.

Committee has said a student of community college will have the option to exit after completing certain credit points of a course and rejoin the course at h/his convenience later with full protection of credit already earned. Since these colleges are meant to serve the need of the community, local students would be given suitable weightage in registration. Central and state governments have been asked to lend support. States would set up State Level Steering Committee under chief secretary and representation from all stakeholders and the Centre would form a National Level Monitoring Committee. Cost of establishing these colleges would be shared by the Centre and states.

Judgment day

The way legal studies used to be perceived traditionally has changed in the last few years with the emergence of new areas of study within the discipline. The demand for legal services in areas like healthcare, intellectual property, venture capital, energy and environmental law has brought about a sea-change in the way aspiring students look at law as a career.

The admission season is on and students aspiring to study law in both the undergraduate integrated programme or at the postgraduate level, will be rushing to universities offering these courses.

The Faculty of Law, Delhi University, offers law at the postgraduate level, which is a three-year programme. According to J L Kaul, professor-in-charge , Campus Law Centre (CLC), DU, law as a discipline as well as a career is no more the old-school kind. Today, the field is growing with various specialisations and with global exposure . Also, law as a profession has matured in the country with increased corporatisation . India, over the years, has opened to foreign investment, which has made space for legal professionals in that area. All these factors contribute to the rise in competition for admission to law schools.

"We have in total 2,500 seats for the three law centres at the faculty, to which about 8,000-9 ,0000 students apply every year through an entrance test conducted by the university," says Kaul.

Further, he says, the discipline is taught under the semester mode. A number of new papers, including environmental law, human rights, gender justice and international trade law have been included in the curriculum recently, as they are emerging fields in this sector.

"The popular fields of specialisation among students, nowadays, include cyber law, corporate law, environmental law, international trade law and human rights law. There is a high demand for corporate lawyers across the globe as legal outsourcing has also increased tremendously," he says.

Students can have good career prospects in the field as they can work in corporate companies, law firms, government agencies , practice judiciary etc.

"For the last couple of years, placement on campus has been progressing, with a good number of students recruited by corporate houses, MNCs, law firms, government agencies like ONGC, international publishers and even NGOs," adds Kaul.

While DU offers a three-year law programme , Jamia Millia Islamia, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) and National Law University, Delhi (NLUD), offer a five-year , BA LLB (H) integrated programme , which is a popular trend among students for the last few years.

According to Rose Varghese, dean, faculty of law, Jamia Millia Islamia, law as a profession has grown due to globalisation and the corporate world. Today, no organisation or industry can exist without a legal division.

"We have a total of 80 seats in the fiveyear BA LLB programme offered by the faculty , to which we receive around 3,000-5 ,000 applications every year. Since in the five-year programme, students are fresh out of school, they are receptive and curious, which is an advantage as they want to know more and can be moulded into the discipline well," she adds.

According to Suman Gupta, dean, school of law and legal studies, GGSIPU, more students are joining the integrated law course as it offers specialisations in the discipline. Legal education has many connotations, and a good job offer is one of the factors that drive students .

"Fields like cyber law, cyber crime, environment and industry law are popular among students. However, many go for civil services or judicial practice as well. Last year, we introduced two new papers in the curriculum - cyber law and crime; and intellectual and industry property law. While the first semester is common, from second semester onwards students can choose from the various specialisation papers," says Gupta.

According to Ranbir Singh, vice-chancellor , NLUD, "We have students from about 19 states studying here. Out of the total 80 seats, 20 are meant for Delhi students and 10 seats are reserved for foreign students. The rest of the seats are meant for students from other states."

He says, "Popular courses among students include intellectual property rights, environmental law, securities, capital market law, corporate law, human rights, and labour and development law."