UoP caught on the wrong foot with a backlog of 500 transcripts

Manoj Bidkar

Nikita Bhavsar (right) is one of the many students who have been doing the rounds of the Students’ Facilitation Centre to secure the all-important transcripts

Nikita Bhavsar earned her degree in Clinical Psychology from Fergusson College in May this year and is ambitious to apply for the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to pursue an MA in Sports and Exercise Psychology from Finland.

It’s most likely that she will miss the bus, thanks to the University of Pune’s (UoP) lackadaisical attitude towards granting transcripts that are mandatory for application submissions to universities abroad.
 
Nikita is one of the 500 similarly affected students who have been anxiously awaiting the documents for over six months now. UoP is supposed to deliver transcripts within a month of the application, but most students have been doing the rounds of the Students’ Facilitation Centre for months. “The application process to overseas universities is quite elaborate and starts mid-November, for which submission of transcripts is imperative.

That is why I applied for the same at UoP’s Students’ Facilitation Centre on September 10. But I am yet to get a positive response from the centre,” said Nikita. After paying the fees, she was issued a signed and stamped receipt that stated the documents would be ready within 30 days.

When that promise was reneged, she started making several rounds to the Certificate Section, only to find herself in a confusion of queues to several departments.

“The Certificate Section’s junior clerk Santosh Lolage was rude and dismissive each time I demanded the transcripts. Once, he even threatened to deliberately delay the procedure to teach me a lesson. When I put forth my queries in Hindi, he was hell bent that I speak in Marathi. His conduct has been whimsical,” she said. When Mirror spoke to Santosh Lolage about the issue, he said, “I have not said anything with premeditation. It was an outburst.

Anything more that may need to be clarified should be addressed to the deputy registrar Pramod Bhadakwade. I am not going to be answerable.” Pramod Bhadakwade admitted that more than 500 applications have been piling up since May this year, and that the department was indeed guilty of not fulfilling their duties.

He said, “The official who was earlier in-charge of the process was promoted and his position was lying vacant for quite some time. It was taken over only by a trainee. Thereafter I took over and have resolved to address the issue of delay in transcripts processing by the end of this month.

Also, right now we are in the thick of a peak period, with students flying out to other universities. Every day, we receive about 80 applications for transcripts. It is not possible to process more than 20 applications per day. We are trying our best.”

Kabir Mandrekar, an Economics graduate from Fergusson College complained, “I want to study management and have shortlisted a host of premier BSchools across India. It is paramount that I submit transcripts. I had applied for the same in early August and it is a pity that till date I have not received them. It has been more than three months and I feel that I am being victimised by the UoP’s apathy in the matter.”
 
Piyush Joshi, an engineering student from Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT) who wants to pursue a post graduation degree from University of Glasgow, is another victim. He reported, “I have already received a conditional offer letter from the University of Glasgow. My admission process is at stake now only due to the non-availability of the transcripts from UoP.
 
If they don’t deliver the transcripts in a week’s time, I will cross the admission deadline and lose out on an academic year. I am really anxious.” Anjali Mohite, recently completed her LLB from ILS Law College and wants to get into Scotland’s University of Aberdeen’s Law School for an LLM. “For the last three months, I have visited the Certificate Section more than six times.

Every time, I have to stand in a queue and on questioning Lolage about the transcripts, I am given vague answers. He complains of the department being understaffed and blames the management for the delay. It’s so irrational. How can I help the situation? Ultimately I am suffering.”

As the students walk on the razor’s edge, they only have Bhadakwade’s feeble promise to hold on to. He said that the backlog will be cleared by the end of this month, although how he will manage to achieve this feat was not clarified. “We will issue the transcripts to as many students as possible, but cannot guarantee that everyone’s deadline will be met,” he emphasised.

►  We will issue the transcripts to as many people as possible but cannot guarantee everyone’s deadlines will be met
 
-   Pramod Bhadakwade, Dy registrar

►   I had applied for transcripts early in August. It has been more than 3 months and I feel that I am being victimised by the UoP’s apathy
 
-   Kabir Mandrekar, Economics grad, Fergusson College

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