05 September,2014 08:33 AM IST | | Shreya Bhandary
21-year-old Suchitra Rajagopalan is looking to pursue a law degree from Government Law College, but Mumbai University does not have a standard marks conversion system for students applying from UK and Ireland
Getting admission in a college is a challenging thing for every student, but for this 21-year-old, it is nothing short of a Herculean task. After graduating from Ireland, Suchitra Rajagopalan moved to India recently and is looking to pursue a degree at Government Law College (GLC), affiliated to Mumbai University (MU).
Mumbai University does not have a standard conversion method for scores provided by universities in UK and Ireland. File pic
However, to her surprise, she was informed that she is not eligible for a seat in the college. "My university mentioned an aggregate score of 61 per cent on my marksheet, which, according to MU's conversion system, should ideally be around 75-80 per cent.
However, my application is not being accepted because the university does not have a standard conversion method for scores provided by universities in UK and Ireland, and 61 per cent is too low for admission to GLC," said Suchitra, who is now hoping that the university can make an exception in her case.
Suchitra had applied for admission in the last week of July, when she was informed about the problem, and she then met the Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University.
Request pending
Her request is currently pending at the governing council and equivalence committee at MU by the management of the GLC. MU has a conversion formula for students who have moved from US. The marking system in US follows a Grade Point Average (GPA) format, and students are given grades that the MU converts into marks.
"I guess no student from UK has applied in Mumbai University without a special letter stating the actual marks. I was not given any such document from my university, and therefore my application is not being accepted," informed Suchitra, adding that another student from UK is also trying to apply for a college in Mumbai, but they have not been able to find a resolution to the problem yet.
Speaking to mid-day, Naresh Chandra, vice-chancellor of Mumbai University, said, "We will have to check her documents and see if the marks can be converted or not. The application has been forwarded to the appropriate department." "I hope the matter is resolved soon and I can start attending lectures. It'll be unfair if my application is rejected just because my score cannot be converted by the university here," said Suchitra.
