Internal assessment for BA, BCom, BSc scrapped

Mumbai: Five years after it was implemented, Mumbai University is ready to scrap internal assessment for traditional BA, BCom and BSc courses.
The university’s academic council approved the decision in a meeting on Monday. Now, internal assessment will be replaced by ‘live’ projects in the final year. Internal assessment, though, will continue in professional courses such as BMM, BMS and BAF.
In another development, the university has also decided to set question papers for first- and second-year exams (semesters I to IV).It will also implement a uniform exam timetable, which means semester-end examinations in first and second year across 750 affiliated colleges will start at the same time.
The decisions have evoked mixed reactions from all stakeholders across the university. Many claimed the essence of a choice-based credit system will be lost with no internal assessment. Principals are also wary of rapid changes in the university’s academic structure.
While some details of the plans are yet to be finalized, the university is slated to implement the two major decisions from the current 2016-17 academic year. Question papers for the semester-end examinations for BA, BCom and BSc students will carry 100 marks instead of the current 75, said S T Gadade, university dean of commerce. Instead of internal assessment, the university will introduce two 100-mark projects in the final year for these students. Gadade added that students will have to spend at least 100 hours in each of the projects. The projects may be divided between fifth and sixth semesters, he said and added that the details will be finalized later. What could be constituted as college projects has also been partially decided (see box). Principals and teachers, though, are questioning the change in exam pattern every three to four years in the university, which they say adds to students’ confusion.
Principal Manju Nichani from K C College said with only one semester-end exam, the essence of continuous evaluation will be lost. “But we will have to see the details of how the projects will be implemented,” said Nichani.
In another major decision, to ensure that the credit system is implemented in a uniform manner, the university has decided to set question papers and send them to all colleges before their examinations. “The credit system was implemented to bring about uniformity in education. It considers the performance of students in all the three years. However, there was no uniformity in the way students were assessed in the first two years in colleges,” said a university official. A principal said colleges mostly conduct first- and second-year exams as per availability of infrastructure. “A common exam timetable will inconvenience many colleges as they may not have classrooms available as per their convenience,” said a principal.