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AIOU students facing 'hard times'
ISLAMABAD, March 13(Daily Times): The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is the
country's first distance learning institution with a network of 32 regional
campuses and around one million students across Pakistan.
As students
have increased tremendously over the years, so have the institution's
administrative problems. The victims of these problems are usually students and
the most frequent complaint is about non-reception of admissions acceptances or
rejections.
The admission department's staff is often reported to be
stubborn, pestering students on petty issues like changes in courses and mailing
addresses. A minor mistake in admission forms causes greater inconveniences to
students because of the staff's harsh attitude. There is a lack of coordination
among various university departments. A change in the student's status is hardly
acknowledged by the examination department.
After admission, regional
offices are responsible for the appointment of tutors, who lecture students and
evaluate their assignments. Submission of assignments before the due date is
compulsory for students, failure of which leads to separation from the programme
for a semester. The university takes no responsibility for letters or books
wrongly delivered by the postal department.
Tutors have been given
absolute powers to evaluate assignments and no one else can physically verify
assignment submissions, not even the vice chancellor (VC). Students also have to
abide by all rules set by tutors.
It was learnt that a tutor had
rejected a student's assignment in the MBA programme only because she did not
attend her class despite the fact that classes were not mandatory in the
programme. Faria Ahmad, the student said that she had to
discontinue her studies because of the system's complexities.
She said
she was given a list of her tutors and their addresses but her assignments were
returned because the university had provided her with the wrong addresses. She
said she had contacted the university's administration department but it was
unable to help her locate the tutors.
Another tutor, a retired wing
commander, failed her because she did not attend non-compulsory tutorial
classes. Faria claimed that she had registered several complaints with the
university administration but failed to get the issue resolved. Employees
complain that those close to the high-ups are deemed privileged, irrespective of
rank or grade. This unhealthy atmosphere is contributing to the university's
falling standards in almost every department. "Complaints against the AIOU
services and education system are increasing daily," an employee
said.
Obaidullah Mumtaz, the university spokesman, admitted that students
were facing difficulties and that the system needed improvement. He said the
university had taken a number of steps to facilitate students' complaints. He
said more centres were being set up to facilitate students and that the entire
system was being computerised.
He said it was not possible for the
university to individually inform thousands of students about their admissions
due to the dearth of resources and manpower. He said this would only be possible
when the system went online.
He said the registrar was the appropriate
person to comment on the staff's harsh attitude, adding that the university had
only three to four blocks and offered 25-30 courses in 1980's but that it was
now offering hundreds of courses. He said that manpower had not been increased
in accordance with the increased burden.
Shugfta Haroon, the students'
affairs director, was not available for comment.
Your Comments
"I couldnt realy understand the purpose of assignments in MBA Banking and Finance at AIOU where the classes are mandatory for this program. Assignments are to be submitted when in class only one or two chapters of the subjects have been covered and unfortunatly the assignments requires at least 75% course coverage. I think the management of AIOU should condisder it very seriously, few options can be 1. There should be assignments by the class teachers. 2. Or there should be one assignment but relatively on a later stage of the semester to enable students to attempt those with confidence and improve their knowledge."
Name: Sajjad Hussain
Email: saji_ali_pk@hotmail.com
City, Country: Islamabad, Pakistan
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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