RCM students protest in front of their college in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 12: Students of Regional College of Management (RCM) today launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding original degree certificates from the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT).

The students threatened to continue their strike and not allow any admissions this academic session until their problems were resolved.

The problems follows legal tussle between the RCM and the BPUT for the past five years. While the university wanted the RCM authorities to admit students from Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) list, the former admitted students from Combined Admission Test (CAT), Xaviers Aptitude Test (XAT) and Management Aptitude Test (MAT). BPUT has, therefore, not provided original certificates to previous four batches of the college.

“The All India Management Association (AIMA) has distributed us CDs that said RCM was the best college in the eastern zone. Why did they mislead us when they knew this problem,” said Preetilagna, a student.

Raza, another student, said that many of them were prompted to take admission into RCM because its course fee is far less than what other management institutes charge.

“While the XIMB charges Rs 8 lakh, the course fee here is Rs 2.96 lakh. But, students are unaware that they are being misled about the affiliation status of the college and problems they would face after the admission,” he said.

“What will we do without certificates? Recruiters have been asking for certificates from the varsity. Our seniors are facing problems in promotions as they are not able to produce the certificates when asked by the company’s HR department,” said Sarat.

He added that MBA batches since the 2009-10 academic session of RCM did not received their certificates and have to manage with provisional documents.

RCM director Prabir Pal said: “The BPUT is looking into the certificate issue and the problem is expected to be resolved within a week.”

The students said despite repeated appeals, the college management did not take any steps and refused to call off the strike following the authorities’ verbal assurance.

“This time we will make sure that there is absolutely no admission to RCM and will continue with the hunger strike until the problem is resolved,” said a students