OU relaxes rules in detention system for engineering students

Hyderabad: Osmania University has received requests and representations from the students of Engineering Colleges affiliated to Osmania University requesting to do away with the detention system.

The University has received similar requests last year too. The University has considered the issue sympathetically and relaxed the criteria to maximum extent by decreasing the number of credits to be earned for onward promotion to the next academic year. 

A student is detained only when the candidate fails to clear more than 50 percent of total credits that a student has to earn during the current academic year (both semesters together).

In addition to this, on the request of the students a relaxation of 9 credits was given last year which is continued this year also.  A student might have backlogs in any of the preceding year. This comes to 12 subjects of 3 credits each.

If such a candidate is promoted, the candidate has to undergo the study of eight subjects making a total of 20 subjects to be cleared which makes the job of the student much more difficult.

Prof. S. Ramachandram, Vice-Chancellor, Osmania University stated that further relaxation will not only harm the students but also the University which has been placed on the top ten Universities. 

He further said that the placement record of the University among top notch companies has been on an upward swing and any tinkering with the detention policy would harm students.

Scrapping of the detention system would go against the interests of the students as they would qualify at the terminal exams and would be inferior quality products in the job market.  

Most of the companies coming for campus interview place a premium on recruiting candidates with a sound academic record and those without any backlogs.

The detention policy would help students to improve their academic performance and prepare them for the tough job market. 

The University strongly denies the allegation of students that there have been large scale detentions during the last academic year under the Choice Based Credit system.

Out of total 18947 students appeared only 8.4% of the students have detained. First year it was two percent out of 5449, second year - 13% of 4466 and 8% out of 9032 in the final year.

It has been observed that most of the students who have been detained have got admitted into affiliated colleges under Management quota.

Prof. S. Ramachandram,Vice-Chancellor stated that the percentage of detentions is very low and in fact reflects the robust evaluation practices of the University. 

He further said that the University policy is heavily tilted in favour of the students.  

Pointing out that Mathematics, as a subject in all Engineering branches, is the cornerstone, Prof. Ramachandram regretted that students who fail to qualify in Mathematics would be difficult to excel in any field in Engineering. 

The Vice-Chancellor has advised the College managements to be more discreet in admitting students and take into consideration their aptitude for engineering education. 

They should conduct remedial classes on spotting weaknesses among the students.  He regretted that parents are supporting the students in their protests and blamed it on lack of awareness on the merits.  

He has requested the Parents to explain and counsel their children on this issue. 

Keeping all these into consideration, Osmania University has turned down the request to scrap the detention system and sought to dismiss the misinformation campaign against the system being followed in the University College of Engineering.