Viva on Skype Permitted for PhD students in DU

Scholars who are pursuing their PhD degrees from Delhi University would now be allowed to appear for their viva through Skype or other modes of video conferencing. This would make it possible for the scholars to attend to the viva being in any corner of the world. The university has also made it mandatory to submit their thesis which needs to be ‘plagiarism checked’. The university has also acquired software to check whether the thesis submitted by students is plagiarism free or not.

According to a senior university official, “Earlier the students had to appear in person for their viva for PhD programmes. So, the ones who had completed their thesis and were offered opportunities abroad, they had to travel back for the process. Now this need has been done away with. The students willing to appear for viva through Skype or any other mode of videoconferencing need to inform their respective departments in advance. Similarly, if certain expert on interview panel is unable to come in person, then the viva will be arranged through similar modes.”

University Grants Commission (UGC) has made it mandatory for all the universities to install mechanisms to check on the plagiarism of the thesis submitted by the students and install specialized softawares devoted for the same. According to the official, “There are certain softwares which are available over the internet too but they do not yield full proof results. We are procuring certain specialized softwares to ensure the scholars cannot do any cut-paste job.”