SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, April 15: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has written a letter to the Vice Chancellors of all the universities instructing them to help students who returned to India amid the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, the question now arises that if these instructions will help only the engineering and other course students, or will the medical students will also be given similar opportunities.
Notably, in an effort to create educational opportunities for such students, the government has taken up an initiative so that all the Indian students affected due to the war can enroll in the institutes under state universities under lateral entry.
The Vice-Chancellors have been instructed that any student who wants to complete his/her education and applies for enrollment, may be enrolled into the university and institute on vacant seats in the respective courses.
However, as per guidelines issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC) in 2021 for those pursuing medical graduates abroad, there is no provision for transfer from a foreign university to an Indian university in the middle of an MBBS programme as both the admission guidelines and the selection criteria are different.
Meanwhile, in the light of the instructions of AICTE, the Vice Chancellor of JUT, Prof. Vijay Pandey has urged all the concerned institutions to follow the instructions under the procedure in such cases. “For engineering studies in Jharkhand, there are several engineering colleges including BIT Sindri, NIFT Hatia and IIIT, where lateral entry may be possible. However, in case of medical students, nomination can be taken under lateral entry only in institutes like RIMS, MGM Jamshedpur and PMCH Dhanbad,” the JUT VC said.
While the AICTE has urged various institutions to consider the candidature of students returned from Ukraine for the vacant seats available in the respective years so that the students can continue their studies, this may be applicable only for engineering students. However, with around 70 percent of students being MBBS aspirants, the maximum still fear of their future aspects now.
One such student Prabhat Singh from Garhwa in this regard said, “We were not informed about this decision, however, we knew that the Indian government was in talks with other countries to accommodate all students. As a student, I do welcome this decision.”
“I for instance, am in the final year. Several of my friends along with me had already paid the fee there, however, if need be, we are ready to pay the fees once again for some opportunity so that we do not have to waste years of education. However, we are still not sure if AICTE’s decision will also be applicable to medical institutions,” Singh said.
He further added, “Indian students from Ukraine have left the course midway and returned home under compulsion. For now, our future seems to be hanging in the balance. Students aspiring to do MBBS prefer to go to Ukraine because the cost of studies there is less and on the other hand the competition for admission in medical colleges in India is very high. However, we are still hopeful that the central government will find a way to help us.”