Pune university engineering exam timetable puts two papers on one day, students seek changes

Engineering students affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) have expressed serious concern over the timetable for the November examinations. Some papers fall on the same day, and in some cases the gap between two papers is only 90 minutes. Students are worried about how to manage their preparation and how to sit both papers.

The university has announced the timetable for the regular engineering degree examinations as well as for the first-, second- and third-year backlog papers. However, because regular and backlog subjects fall on the same day, students who have to appear in both have been put in difficulty. In other words, a single student has to face two examinations on the same day.

Students have demanded a change in the timetable. They have told the university that the two papers of a single student should not be scheduled on the same day. They have also pointed out that a gap of an hour and a half does not give enough time to handle both papers.

Several student organisations have submitted memoranda to the university. They want the examination department to review the dates and make the necessary changes. They expect that papers should have adequate gaps and that students should not suffer because of overlapping dates in the timetable.

The issue is particularly serious for students who are taking both regular and backlog examinations, because under the current timetable they may have to sit two papers within a short gap.

The university's Board of Examinations and Evaluation said a gap of one day has been kept between regular engineering papers. The engineering curriculum has 48 subjects. If only one paper were held each day, the examination period would stretch to nearly one and a half to two months.

The university has indicated that the timetable was prepared with students' academic needs in mind and so that the examination process is completed within a reasonable period. Even so, concern over regular and backlog papers falling very close together has brought the timetable under discussion.