Vacant seats stare at mismanaged Lucknow University

LUCKNOW: Tall claims of the Lucknow University to attract meritorious students have fallen flat. Be it the undergraduate courses or the postgraduate programmes, the university has missed enrolling meritorious students. The admission officials were forced to declare the fifth selected merit list (inviting third division holders) for admission to UG courses to ensure that all seats were filled. Worse is the merit cut-off for PG courses - most courses have below 60% marks as cutoff or are just on the border.

Prior to the first cutoff for UG courses declared on July 9, 25% candidates had already stepped out in the choice filling process. Even in its flagship course B Com (self-finance) around 80% seats are vacant, the final index has gone down to 55. The university closed down BA (Hons) in three subjects. Only admissions to BA (Hons) in English are being done this year. Here too, 30% seats are vacant. In professional courses, the cut-off for BBA is as low as 48%. In BA, candidates with a 40% score are welcome to take admission.

University vice-chancellor SB Nimse soon after his joining in second week of May assured that no seats in UG will remain vacant. After the application process was over, Nimse remarked that number of applications received was far more than the total number of seats and all UG seats will be filled. But even after one-and-half months of admission process, around 650 seats remain vacant, said admission officials.

When contacted, the V-C was unavailable for comments. University's pro vice-chancellor, AK Sengupta said, "We need to gather information'', passing the buck on admission officials who denied coming on record. They, however, pointed out that there was not much difference in the merit cut-offs compared to previous years.

Professors concerned with the deteriorating quality said, the university think tank should have given some thought to the new online admission policy. "Even a university like Delhi has both online and offline application process,'' said a teacher, adding that not only has the online process failed utterly it has put the university to discomfort. The session is already late by over a month; the stipulated 180 days of teaching before exams is unthinkable.

Head of the department of Sociology Rajesh Mishra said, "University was infamous before 2007 for student politics. Now, it has better known for corruption, scandals and absenteeism of all university constituent sections, including students.''

The university, once the Cambridge of the East, is fast losing its sheen, intellectual liveliness and academic reputation. More than one-third of the faculty is busy with admissions, administration, examinations throughout the year. Of the remaining, one-tenth are on leave, and the one-third waiting for students or vice-versa, said teachers.

Hardly an academic hub, students and teachers find the library redundant. Minimum amenities for students ranging from washrooms to canteens, sports to classrooms and labs make the condition pathetic. There is no forum for students to put across their problems, difficulties and demands. Teachers questioned, why students, particularly meritorious ones, would take admission in such a university.

"It is seen that many talented students repent after taking admission to the Lucknow University. The mass exodus of students to other states continues in the absence of quality education,'' said a senior professor. Another teacher said the university seemed no more interested in imparting knowledge; it has become certificate and degree distribution organisation.