(From top) Candidates queue up in front of the SBI counter on the Ravenshaw University campus to get the bank challans required for admission. Without sheds for cover in or drinking water facilities, candidates wait in the scorching heat to complete admission formalities. A group of seniors help the candidates at a May I Help You desk. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, June 8: The image of seniors as tormentors has undergone a change. At least, at Ravenshaw University. A group of postgraduate students at the varsity are going out of their way to help applicants visiting their campus with queries about the online admission process.

Stranded in the blazing heat for hours together, with no place to rest and without drinking water provisions, applicants such as Nirakar Muduli, who has come from Nayagarh district, have been facing several problems while seeking admission.

“Hundreds of students are queuing up to get bank challans, which are a must for admission. However, no provision for drinking water or proper seating has been made by the authorities of the university or the bank,” rued Muduli. His friends complained about the same thing.

Their soon-to-be seniors, however, have lent them a helping hand. Not only are they bearing the cost of printing the challans for the applicants, they are also providing all admission-related information to them by setting up helpdesks.

“We have pooled in money to get the challans for our prospective juniors. Normally, they would have had to pay at least Rs 5 for printing the challans from the university website. We are doing our best to ensure that they don’t face any difficulty in completing the formalities at the bank,” said Narayan Sahu, a student of journalism.

Applicants have to download forms for various undergraduate, postgraduate and self-financing courses from the university website. Then they have to get a bank challan (Rs 160 for undergraduate and postgraduate courses and Rs 400 for professional courses) and the number of the receipt copy has to be provided during online submission of forms and other documents.

Though a candidate can also get the challan through demand draft from any other bank by paying Rs 30, most of them are opting to get it done from the bank on the campus at a lower cost. And all this useful advice is being given out at the “May I Help You” desks set up by the postgraduate students.

“The university should have made arrangements for the applicants, especially considering that it is so hot. Fortunately for us, this helpful bunch of youngsters has pretty much made up for it,” said Ziya Sharif, 57, a guardian who was accompanying his ward.

PhD delay

PhD aspirants are waiting for a notification from the university authorities inviting applications for the doctoral degree.

“I completed my MPhil last year but there has been no announcement about PhD enrolments for almost a year now. I was very keen on studying at Ravenshaw but I have no idea how much longer I will have to wait,” said Anita Sahoo, an aspirant.

Impatient about the delay, another aspirant, Satyajit Mohanty, who holds a master’s degree in English from Ravenshaw, has now taken admission at North Odisha University in Baripada. “I was tired of the uncertainty and did not want to waste another year,” he said.

University authorities said they were yet to get directions from vice-chancellor B.C. Tripathy about bringing out the PhD notification. Last year, the notification had come out in May.

“The undergraduate and postgraduate admissions are our priority now. Once we are through with them, we will take a decision about PhD admissions. It is anyway not a regular, time-bound course. We will publish the notice by July,” said a teacher.

Sources said the university was going through a serious staff crisis because of which the notification had been delayed. “We have a shortage of staff members, who can handle all admissions at one time. We are overburdened with responsibilities, which explains the delay,” said an official.