Over 150 students of Darjeeling Hill University (DHU) who cleared their postgraduate exams this year are yet to get their mark sheets, preventing them from enrolling in other courses or appearing in certain competitive exams.
Admission at the varsity in PG courses also stopped this academic year.
The reason: at the hill varsity, the post of the vice chancellor has been vacant since June 23, when the tenure of the interim VC ended.
“The vice chancellor is the approving authority for admission. As there is no vice chancellor or administrative body at the fledgling university, no admission will take place in the 2023-24 academic year,” said a source.
In DHU, sources said, posts like registrar, finance officer and controller of examinations are also vacant. The varsity has no faculty member and classes are taken online by teachers of other colleges, or when opportunity comes, on NBU campus in Siliguri.
In August this year, students who enrolled in 2021 appeared in their fourth-semester or the final exam of the PG course.
There were 163 students altogether — 37 in English, 31 in history, two in mass communication, 31 in mathematics, 23 in Nepali and 39 in political science.
“Around 150 students took the exams,” said a source.
As the results were published, students got a provisional result sheet, not the final mark sheet and certificate.
“We cannot take admission in courses like B.Ed or apply to appear in exams like NET (National Eligibility Test). I want to study B.Ed at a college in Burdwan. This year, the last date of admission is October 30,” said a student of the English department who didn’t want to be named. “It means a year wasted.”
Another student of the history department, who finished his post-graduation from DHU this year, said they have not yet received the registration certificate from the varsity.
“We have not received hard copies of mark sheets of the exams of any semester during these two years. We are spending precious days amid uncertainty,” the student said. “We don’t know how it would affect our careers.”
Debashish Dutta, the controller of examinations at the NBU said that if any student went to him with the provisional mark sheet from the hill varsity, he would sign it for further use.
“Students can come to NBU on Monday and get their provisional mark sheet signed for other admissions or applications,” Dutta said.
Hill students in the area are also upset that DHU has stopped taking admissions
in the current academic session.
“In March this year, hill academic Prem Poddar had been made interim VC. After his tenure of three months ended on June 23, there has been no VC at the hill varsity,” said a senior professor of NBU. “So how can the admission process start?”