Students, who have received conditional offer letters to their preferred courses from foreign universities, want education dept to assess their performance, issue mark-sheets soon so they can start process to get loans and visas needed to further their educational prospects
When she received a communique from King’s College London — one of the top universities in the world — in February, Preet Desai felt on top of the world. She had been offered admission to a year-long International Relations course on two conditions: obtaining the required IELTS score, and achieving a score of 72% or more in all semesters. With her final exams scheduled for April, Desai buckled down to study hard and secure her seat at the prestigious college in the UK. Then, coronavirus brought everything to a standstill. And, Desai is still waiting to know if the Gujarat Higher and Technical Education Department will conduct her final exams and issue mark-sheet in time for her to go abroad and fulfil her dream.
Preet is just one of the hundreds of students aspiring to gain admission to universities in foreign countries like the UK, the US, Germany and Canada to pursue postgraduate courses. Most of these courses are set to begin in September. Now, their future hangs in the balance due to the indecisiveness of the Education department.
No clarity The lack of clarity about their final year exams, which have been scheduled and deferred multiple times by the Education department now, has left the students in fear of losing out the admissions they have secured in overseas universities. Some are also contemplating deferring admissions to next semester as students believe they are unlikely to get their marksheets in time to start the visa process and confirm their seats.
The students are given provisional or conditional admissions based on the score of semester 7 (for a four-year course), or semester 5 (for a three-year course). Students have to present their final year mark-sheet and other documents verifying their performance later to confirm the admission and begin process to get educational loans and secure visas etc.
Exam confusion
In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, the Education department put exams scheduled in April on hold in all 16 State universities. Around 3 lakh students were to appear for the exams. As corona-positive cases rose in Gujarat, the department discussed, and sat on various proposals to evaluate students’ performance. Finally, in June, the Education department ordered all varsities to compulsorily hold exams from June 25.
Then, in a meeting, it reportedly orally directed all Vice-Chancellors to conduct exams as per the varsities’ convenience, thus putting the onus on the V-Cs. This left the universities in a dilemma and led to discrepancies in holding exams. While varsities like Gujarat University, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and Saurashtra University postponed the exams, Gujarat Technological University decided to hold exams giving students the option of online, off-line, and special examinations.
After facing students’ wrath for scheduling offline exams while Covid-19 cases are increasing in the State, the State government on July 1cancelled exams in all varsities after the intervention of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. “However, these instructions were also given verbally so there is confusion regarding what course should varsities take,” said a vice-chancellor, refusing to be named.
‘Need mark-sheets’
Desai said, “To confirm my admission at King’s College, I have to provide proof of meeting by August 28. I have to submit my marksheet and transcript within deadline. I do not want to lose out on the best opportunity of my life because the Education department cannot take a decision,” she said.
Her family has already paid Rs 2 lakh of the Rs 25-lakh fee for the course that begins in September. The amount will not be refunded if Desai cannot submit required documents to confirm admission. “I need my mark-sheet well in time as I have to start the visa process to be in UK by first week of September, serve 14-day quarantine, and begin academics on time,” she said.
Navesh Patel, a Bachelor of Engineering student from MSU, has received conditional confirmation to study in a university in Germany. Hoping to enrol in the Master of Science programme in Advanced Materials at Ulm University, Patel has to make it to the varsity by September 14 to attend a 6-week long pre-master course that he has to pass to secure admission.
“I have to pay 3,170 Euros by mid-July to confirm admission. Varsity officials said they will refund it if I cannot confirm admission due to some reason. However, what distresses me is that I may have to let go of this offer despite having a conditional admission letter as I do not see my mark-sheet coming any time before August.
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