Ruckus at Telugu univ as students want MPhil course

Hyderabad: Angry students obstructed the semester exam at the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University on Monday demanding that a notification be issued for the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) course on campus. While eight exams were scheduled to be held, only four could be held successfully as 42 students, who were later taken into preventive custody by the Nampally police station, obstructed the exams.
"The group of 42 students were obstructing other students from appearing for their exam. Their primary demand was to reintroduce the MPhil course," said Madhu Mohan Reddy, inspector at the Nampally police station.
The MPhil course is a two-year post-graduate research degree with specialisation which is considered as a bridge course between the masters' degree and the doctoral degree (PhD). After 2013-14 academic year, the university stopped issuing notification for the MPhil course which irked hundreds of students. "We stopped the intake for the MPhil course as there was no market value for this course to seek jobs," said K Thomasaiah, registrar of the Telugu university.
Officials also attributed the discontinuation of the course to the financial implications of taking in MPhil students. "Lot of students seek admission in the MPhil course only to avail the hostel and mess facilities. While they get fellowship of hardly Rs 800 per month, their monthly expenditure is as much as Rs 3,500. The rest of the amount has to be borne by the university. Therefore, the university stopped taking admissions for the MPhil course," said an official on condition of anonymity.