Behind the Minor Registration Rule Change

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Every semester, we register for core courses, and besides, we have the liberty to take up some courses of our choice. These can be in the form of minors, electives or additional learning courses. In the case of minor courses, CPI-based selection through the pre-registration process is used to decide who gets the course earlier. Students who could not clear the CPI filter had some hope in the form of a first come first serve basis of course allotment during the main registration process. This system was not robust, though it provided a window of opportunity for students who were interested in the course but did not have a high enough CPI. However, a new policy regarding Minor registration will be introduced starting this semester, wherein the maintenance of a first come first serve queue for Minor courses during the main registration process is being scrapped. Go through this circular for the revised rules –

http://www.iitb.ac.in/newacadhome/MinorRegistrationinformationforstudnts_20_dec_Revised.pdf

 To understand the process behind this abrupt change, we talked to the current and former General Secretaries  Academic Affairs (UG) to clear the air.

(Picture credits – UG Academic Council Design Team)

As per Varshit Kumar, GSAA (UG), there is no mention of such a first come first serve system in the academic rule book. The sole basis for minor allocation as per the rule book is CPI. This provision in the rulebook is the primary reason for this unprecedented change. The administration is merely implementing what the rule book says. Nothing can be said about why this went unnoticed for years. Still, problems in the registration process and students’ request to increase the cap for minor courses sem after sem leading to frustration in professors brought it to notice. 

These revised rules were approved in the tenure of Anmol Gupta, the previous GSAA(UG). However, they could not be implemented because of infrastructural inefficacy. There were discussions with the administration not to implement this directly and instead come up with an alternative system, but the talks did not fructify. Undeniably, there were many flaws in the previously used method. Technical anomalies amassed in the form of site crash, limitation of VPN, impeding registration from outside the campus, the late update of courses on ASC – all these problems were resulting in ambiguity in the process. Another alternative that was being discussed was to have extra seats allocated through first come first serve, however, having two bases for course allocation did not seem fair to the administration, i.e. CPI and first come first serve.

While these new rules certainly address major administrative concerns, bringing uniformity to a chaotic process, it also raises a question on the rule book with regards to the fairness of this rule as it might seem unfair to many students. Students might find difficulty in the registration process as detailed regulations have not been put up yet. They may contact the GSAAs or other representatives in the Academic Council as they will be addressing these concerns during the registrations. Academic Council understands the concerns of students and realising this Anmol Gupta, former GSAA(UG) has asked for suggestions from students. “You might have an alternate system (because going back to the old system wouldn’t be easy), that you can give to the current council / GSAA.”

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