Panjab University 3-yr law entrance exam to have objective-type questions

The entrance test for three-year bachelor of laws (LLB) in Panjab University (PU) will now be of 100 marks instead of 75, consisting multiple-choice questions only.

Earlier in the 75-mark question paper, objective-type questions used to carry 50 marks while subjective questions were of 25 marks. In a letter of Prof Shalini Marwaha, chairperson of the law department, dated March 24, 2017, the reason cited was, “It will not only expedite the result of the entrance test but also have objectivity in evaluation.”

With marks up, the duration of test will also be increased to 1 hour 30 minutes instead of previous 1 hour and 15 minutes.

There is no restriction on age of candidates as there is stay on rules of Bar Council of India from the apex court.

There will be a joint online counselling for admissions in LLB and master of laws (LLM) courses for 2017-18 in law department and regional centres.

French department seats cuts down by over 30%

The French department of Panjab University has reduced its seats one-year certificate course to 200 from 286 for session 2017-18.

The syndicate will ratify the decision on April 30. “We have decreased the seats as there is shortage of faculty and infrastructure,” said Prof Cecilia Antony, who headed the meeting of academic and administrative committee on March 21 as acting chairperson, which decided the cut.   

However, there are 50 seats in diploma course, 29 in advance diploma and 17 in postgraduate course. “There are lesser number of students in these courses and we can manage them,” Prof Antony added.  

“There are no rooms to hold big class and students of certificate course used to sit in corridors. Then someone clicked a picture and sent the complaint even to the Prime Minister. Though I do not blame students, but one can imagine the plight of students sitting in corridor during humid months of July and August.”

Chairperson Ramnik Arora also stated the same reason. “As of now, we have two teachers and two more are re-employed. Earlier, we used to have five teachers,” she added.

Department gets old name again

The administrative and academic committee has changed the name of the department ‘French and Francophone Studies: Language, Literature and Culture’ to ‘French and Francophone Studies’. The name of the departement was same before 2014-15 when it changed to French and Francophone Studies: Language, Literature and Culture.

The department claimed that it was an unproductive exercise and the name ‘French and Francophone Studies’ was self-explanatory. The minutes of meeting held on March 21 said that reason for reverting to the same is the fact that it covers all aspects of language, literature and culture.

Other developments

1.  School of Communication Studies has increased the weightage of entrance test marks to 60% for the admission in postgraduation course of mass communication with graduation marks carrying 40% weightage. Earlier, the entrance test marks used to have 50% weightage and 50% was for graduation marks. It has been done to ensure quality of students.   

2.  Panjab University has approved Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), Delhi, as the research centre for pursuing PhD in biotechnology and system biology and bioinformatics.

3. For master in pharmacy in ‘Drug Discovery and Drug Development’ and ‘Pharmaceutical Analysis and Quality Assurance Courses’, the weightage of marks of bachelors in pharmacy, if passed from PU, has been reduced to 5% from 10% in line with general admission policy.