Ravenshaw University Reverses Decision

Ravenshaw University authorities reversed their decision to reduce seats in the humanities stream. The official reason given for this sudden volte-face is the overwhelming number of applications for humanities this year. 

Give your opinion on this matter.....

 The following news article is retrieved from here.

Bowing to massive all-round resentment and an overwhelming response from applicants, the Ravenshaw University authorities were forced to revoke the “controversial” notification that was ordered to slash the number of seats in Arts stream for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

“We have recalled the notification of reducing the seats and issued fresh orders to admit students as per the existing seats in previous years”, said the university registrar Satyakam Mishra. The decision to revoke the notification was taken in view of the resentments and encouraging response from the applicants to pursue higher education in traditional Arts subjects, Mishra told The Hindu on Wednesday.

It was learnt that as many as 1,000 applications have already been received online from students across the country seeking admission in undergraduate courses in Arts. Highly placed sources in the university said that the number of applications might touch 1,200 by the close of the deadline on June 20.

The university had earlier decided to reduce the number of seats in Arts from 512 to 256. It had also decided to slash as many 80 seats in MA courses.

The university had cited that due to lack of interest among the students to study the traditional subjects was the reason to reduce the seats. This decision was however, widely criticised by the students as well as educationists alleging that the newly formed varsity was trying to privatise the education.

MBA Fees 4 lakhs???

As i was going through the prospectus of the newly inducted MBA program, I stumbled upon the fees section. The proposed fees for MBA is around 4 lakh rupees. The prospectus does not mention of any scholarship for the needy and I assume that no special arrangement has been made for students from the low income bracket . I understand that the infrastructure, faculty and other components of the course will be of high quality. I also understand that there will be no shortage of educational loans for students those who are unable to arrange the required fee. Even if I assume that all enrolled students will be well placed with handsome salaries, the fee structure does not make any sense to me. For, it simply undermines the very principle for which Ravenshaw stands - social equality. Even if collateral free loan is made available (it is difficult for a new course though), the amount just makes it impossible for someone from the lower income strata to join the course. Specialized and job oriented courses have all been put under the self financing course list as if they are the fiefdom of the rich and the upper middle class. The notion that the quality of education and its price are directly proportional to each other is a myth. Sweden, for example, provides free technical education till the post doctoral level not only to her natives but also to international students. But have we ever tried anything of that sort?? This problem is not endemic to Ravenshaw alone but to all educational institutions across the country.
I have always cherished the 5 years that I spent as a student of Ravenshaw, not because of her glorious history, not even for her contribution to Odisha's development, but because of her social composition. Ravenshaw for me is a temple of learning where there is no distinction between the elite and the common. I just pray that she retains her social composition .

What is your opinion ??

Arts seats cut, More seats for Science and Commerce

Ravenshaw University authorities have decided to reduce seats in courses that are not in demand. The University will increase seats for Commerce and Computer Science. 

Do you agree with the management's decision ? Leave a comment.

The full text of the news article,retrieved from here, follows:

Boost to subjects in demand - Aidso protests varsity seat slash

The Ravenshaw University has decided to reduce seats for undergraduate courses in the arts stream by 50 per cent for the next academic session and enhance its intake capacity for the subjects that are “in demand”.

With a 50 per cent slash, the total number of seats for bachelor in arts in Ravenshaw University for the next session would plummet to 256 from 512.

In a bid to reduce the huge number of vacancies in the arts departments after admissions every year, the university has also decided to decrease the total number of seats for postgraduate studies in English literature and economics by nearly 40 per cent.

Official sources said the number of seats for postgraduate courses in English and economics has been brought down to 64 from 104. The slash has been implemented to bring in “uniformity” in the number of post-graduation seats in different subjects.

The registrar of Ravenshaw University, Satyakam Mishra, explained that the university would increase its student intake up to 50 per cent in the commerce stream, taking the total seats for BCom to 384 from 256. The university would also add 24 seats to computer science (undergraduate) course and increase the (undergraduate) BSc course seats to 280.

“The seats for undergraduate arts are never completely filled. This has been a trend over the past few years. So, the seats were decreased to accommodate more students in commerce and science streams that are in demand,” the registrar told The Telegraph today.

“Additional seats up to 20 per cent beyond the sanctioned strength would be made available only to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students in undergraduate courses in arts,” he added.

“The latest UGC guidelines make it mandatory for PG students to present at least one seminar paper in a year. With so many seats, this was becoming impossible,” Mishra added.

The seat slash, however, has been met with a degree of protests from members of the Aidso. The party has demanded a rollback in the university decision.

Aviation Management Course to be started

Continuing with the expansion of the gamut of courses to be introduced soon, Ravenshaw University has decided to offer a course in Aviation management. The University is looking for a collaboration with University of Krems, Vienna. A course in hotel management and hospitality has also been planned.

The following news article has been retrieved from here:

" The number of candidates graduating from Ravenshaw University has fallen considerably owing to a reduction in the overall success rate.

The overall success rate in the science, commerce and arts streams this year has declined to 90 per cent from 96 per cent last year.

University authorities, however, attributed the decline in the success rate to the poor performance of students in new subjects such as business administration, information technology and management. “This has had an effect on the aggregate score of the students in general,” said university registrar Satyakam Mishra.

While the university had declared 1,097 students as successful, the results declared on Friday indicated that 96.74 per cent of the arts students passed. The pass percentage was comparatively lower in science and commerce streams at 82.46 and 87.88 per cent respectively. In geology, the pass percentage was just 65.

Meanwhile, the university has decided to award a gold medal to each of the students, who topped in 25 subjects, while deferring declaration of the best graduate of the year. Of the 25 toppers, 20 are girls.

Earlier this month, vice-chancellor Devdas Chhotray had, in his report, said Ravenshaw had adopted the semester system, revised the syllabus and a massive drive was on to recruit faculty.

“We have now schools for physical sciences, life sciences, social sciences, earth sciences, mathematical sciences, languages among others,” said the report, a copy of which was made available to the reporters during the first convocation on May 10.

“Ravenshaw has constituted a school of aviation management and is looking for collaborating with the University of Krems, Vienna, to catch up with the growing demands of civil aviation sector. It has also sought support from the Centre for establishing a school of hotel management and hospitality, seeking strength from Orissa’s tourism potential,” the vice-chancellor said.

Ravenshaw has envisaged a centre for understanding Orissa to develop the art of overseeing and understanding a culture, the report said."