From mixing up exam schedules to professors leaking question papers, Visveswaraya Technological University (VTU) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since 2017. Now, the University is making headlines as the report cards of students from two different colleges affiliated to VTU have gone missing.
The university alleges that it is trying to trace the ‘missing report cards’ of two engineering colleges that went missing even before they reached the colleges.
A total of 480 report cards of the 8th semester (final-year students) students of University BDT College of Engineering, Davangere and Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere have been missing for over a month now.
The University BDT College of Engineering, Davangere had received a bundle of report cards that belonged to students of another college. These were sent back to the Mysuru regional centre.
The VTU officials have not yet registered an FIR and are instead waiting to get an internal committee’s report to take action in this regard, sources in the VTU’s Academic Senate told TNM.
“The university prints the marks cards at Belagavi where the VTU’s headquarters are located. These marks cards are then sent to the regional centres in the state, from where the marks cards are distributed to the respective colleges,” said Professor Satish Annigere, Registrar of Evaluation, VTU.
Professor Satish says that the report cards were sent to the regional office in Mysuru and went missing from there.
University officials have constituted an inquiry committee, headed by the Principal of MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bengaluru, and the committee has submitted a report of the case.
The issue came to light when it was first discussed at the Academic Senate meeting held in June and the members demanded that a police complaint be filed.
“When the issue came up in the Senate, we suggested that a police complaint be filed. But, it was decided that we will wait for the final report of the committee,” said a member of the Academic Senate.
The University has now issued consolidated marks cards to the students. “As the consolidated report cards for the course are issued, students will not face any trouble. We cannot issue the 8th semester report cards until we find the missing ones,” Prof Satish said.
In June, the question paper for the Basic Determent Sector Analysis subject was leaked on WhatsApp and on July 6, a professor of VTU was suspended for leaking the paper.
In 2017, over 3 lakh students of VTU had staged a protest against the varsity’s administration alleging that the syllabus was outdated and that they were not learning subjects which are currently in demand in the industry.