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"We had received letters from the Symbiosis College of Arts and Science. We replied in January that the university has not instituted any degree called honours degree. We will be giving the students plain BA or BCom degree." said V B Gaikwad, director, Board of College and University Development (BCUD)
Around 80 BA and B Com honours students passing out of the Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce last year are facing a huge problem because Savitribai Phule Pune University has denied the request to validate the courses.
The first batch of the BA and B Com honours courses passed out from the college in 2014-15. They are supposed to get their degree certificates in the convocation ceremony which is to be held later this month.
Vidya Yeravdekar, the principal director of Symbiosis Society, said, "We are an autonomous college affiliated to the Savitribai Phule Pune University. The college has the autonomy of making its own curriculum and new programme according to the University Grants Commission guidelines. BA and BCom honours degrees are listed in Section 22 of the UGC Act. But since we are affiliated to a state university that is SPPU, the degree certificates are given by the varsity. When the course was started after it got approved in the academic council and the governing council of the college for the 2012-2015 batch, we had submitted all relevant papers to the varsity. But we didn't get any reply. We again followed it up recently and then finally the varsity gave a one-line reply in January that these degrees are not given by SPPU. This is not an illegal or unapproved programme. I hope the university will take a positive view".
"We were given two mark sheets in the third-year. One had all the BA general subjects and marks written. The other had the BA honours marks. But now we came to know that the varsity had never given the permission for this degree. We are hopeful that the college administration will ensure we get an honours degree. In case the varsity says no, we deserve a justified compensation because Rs 40,000 is not a small amount" said a student.
This is situation is clearly not looking for the students.
