Chennai: As per the records of the University of Madras, some research scholars were given permission 20 years ago to complete their study after registering for the Ph.D on the basis of special consideration and a majority of research scholars taking more time than the minimum period of three years to finish their study thereby rendering the research work irrelevant when they submit their thesis.
The university, which has adopted the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M. Phil. /Ph.D. Degrees) Regulations, 2016, have decided to do away the practice of giving special consideration to Ph.D candidates for the coming academic year (2018-19).
The University of Madras has evolved a new mechanism to make research scholars submit their thesis within a minimum period. “The research scholars will have complete academic freedom in the first four years of their study. Then the doctoral committee will decide whether to give the extension for the fifth and sixth year considering the progress made by the Ph.D students,” said P. Duraisamy, vice-chancellor, University of Madras.
In most of the cases, the data collected by the candidates will not be valid and useful after ten years. The dean (research) for university departments and principal/director of institutions will be part of the doctoral committee meetings to recommend extension of registration for 5th and 6th years.
As per the new UGC rules, the re-registration system for Ph.D candidates also will be scrapped. The existing norms permit the research scholars who have completed six years to re-register and submit their thesis within two years.
“The research scholars who have completed their six years have to register afresh with the approval of their PhD guide. They will be allowed to finish the thesis after a minimum period,” Mr Duraisamy said.
He further said the new UGC rules give special consideration for pregnant women up to the period of one year and it is common for all.
Currently, around 4,000 Ph.D research scholars are registered with the University of Madras and its affiliated colleges. The university has introduced various measures to facilitate the quality research like online Ph.D admissions and monitoring system to make the process hassle-free. Through the monitoring system, scholars and supervisors can check the status for admission to an award of the degree.
“So far, 300 theses submitted in the past six months have gone through the anti-plagiarism software ‘Urkund’. This software is aiding the scholars and guides to produce quality research,” professors said.
After finding out malpractices in the reviews of foreign examiners, it also introduced new conditions such as the examiner should have published a minimum of two research papers in the relevant field in the last five years.
It is also being planned to establish a centre in the Chepauk library with about 10 computers with statistical software - SPSS - for the research students of social science departments. This centre will create a data bank by obtaining data from central/state/local government and non-government organisations.
