Media, arts students of MU still await results after 156 days

Mumbai: The students of the Bachelor’s in Mass Media (BMM) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) of the University of Mumbai (MU) are waiting for their fifth semester results for 156 days.

With MU failing to declare results within 45 days, the university was forced to postpone the scheduled examination for the fifth and sixth semesters on Monday. Earlier, students had raised concerns that they are yet to receive the examination timetable and had asked how to determine if they needed to take the ATKT exam or not without the results.

The examinations for the sixth semester were scheduled on April 12 and the ATKT examinations for the fifth semester were scheduled on April 17.

“Considering the students’ concerns, we decided to postpone BMM and BA examinations and will announce a new schedule very soon,” a MU official said.

Amar Saraf, a third-year BA History student from Mulund had intended to travel to Delhi for a certification course in May, however, due to the postponement of the examination, he is now in a fix.

“It is MU’s mistake. I am feeling extremely depressed. I am thinking of cancelling my enrollment in the Delhi-based course. I kindly want MU authorities to carry out their duties correctly and aid students in making stress-free career decisions. I’m still awaiting the results of the fifth semester, which will help me choose my future professional route,” he said to HT.

The examinations were postponed after Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson advocate Amol Matele met the director of the Directorate of the Board of Examinations and Evaluation professor Prasad Karande.

“Because the education department’s technical work is given to private companies, it will take time to process the results, hence the delay. This summer session examination was plagued with issues from incomplete hall tickets and wrong examination centres, which directly affect students. The exam department should fix it and action should be taken,” said Matele.

He warned that if any action is not taken, there will be a protest to announce ‘symbolic results’ in front of the MU examination hall.

Meanwhile, it has been 95 days since the first and third semester examinations of Master in Arts (MA) Marathi, Hindi, and Psychology subjects and postgraduate courses were held in January, but the results are not out.

“The paper assessment work for BMM, MA in Marathi, Hindi, and Psychology is complete and the result-making process is going on, so we will be announcing the semester-five results very soon,” added the MU official. “Even though the assessment work of BA answer sheets is also almost done, due to technical glitches the assessment work of some answer sheets is pending. We are now solving this issue and will declare the result very soon.”