Thesis Blues
April 11, 2006
February 10, 2006
From A to D
There's a lot of talk going on amongst the freshmen about getting their papers rechecked. It seems as if a lot of people have been awarded unpredicted grades. I've heard numerous students saying that their final grade differed from what they had been getting in their hourlies by two notches or more. Students often go about making such claims without realizing that semester grades are not just based on the hourlies and final exams. Quizzes, assignments, reports, labs, summaries and class participation contribute towards the final result depending on the breakups listed in the course outlines.
If after considering these points you still feel that something's wrong then papers can be rechecked and scores recalculated on payment of Rs. 500 per subject. For more information contact Mr. Adil, Student record Officer.
December 30, 2005
A pack of hounds
Teachers here are no different than a pack of hound dogs left loose to literally hound their students. There is no check and balance on their activities - they do whatever they please, however they please. Course outlines, decided by a so-called 'Academic Council,' are barely followed and rarely covered. Assignments are a farce, as are the labs, and learning is scarce.
Plagiarism is once such concept that is strictly 'enforced' here at TIP according to our prospectus and every single course outline. And at the beginning of each semester, most teachers summarily state that plagiarism is unacceptable. But by the end of the semester most students submit assignments and give presentations that they acquired from senior students or from other colleges, which are then duly accepted by teachers and given wonderful results. I'm sitting in the computer lab as a type this, and I see three design students (TD2) scan whole chapters from various books, OCR them, and prepare to submit them as "original assignments." A presentation-cum-assignment I once made, I have seen submitted by different students to 5 different teachers. Some assignments in particular have been doing the 'rounds' ever since I came to TIP.
Don't teachers see this? Can they not identify when a student has plagiarized; copy-pasted of the internet, scanned from a magazine or book, or copied from another student's assignment? Just this semester for a particular course I took, there were probably no more than three "different" assignments shared between 41 students and submitted to the same teacher - and with surety I can say that each of these "different" assignments are lifted from some other source.
I wouldn't blame the students, they're only working the loopholes in the university's system. The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the administration who apparently doesn't check on the activities of their faculty. Its time to put a leash to these hounds.
October 25, 2005
The State of our Education
By Abid Omar TS4
It's wonderful to be a final year science student. The semester had been going very smoothly with a nearly non-existent course load. Due to someone's goof up, we ended up with only 3 courses (rather than the prescribed four) at the start of the semester, resulting in a very happy and relaxed beginning to our final academic year. But then, when some students realized that they would have insufficient credit hours to graduate with this course load, TIP's administrative machinery swung into action in their usual glacial pace, and a month later a compulsory course called "Industry and Environment 409" was pulled out of thin air and thrust upon the students.
And with no formal announcement, some students learnt about this new compulsory course after the first class was already over. Anyway, it's a very pressing concern, this environmental business; to quote from our prospectus, "a major focus of public concern." And thus a teacher was assigned to teach this course of 'major concern.' We've had three classes so far, and all I've learnt is that to do well in this course, I must throw all my concerns about the environment out the proverbial window and focus on rote-learning the prescribed reading material (which I should be able to pick up from the reprographer a good 24 hours before the first hourly, which happens to be in the next class).
So what my issue with this course? Well, I'm sure our teacher can't offer anything more substantial than what is contained in the textbook - no personal experiences, no real world examples. And if you happen across one of the textbooks (which would be difficult because there is only one copy of it in the library), you would wonder how it was ever approved for publication.
What about assigning an equally important teacher to this important subject? Someone knowledgeable?
May 11, 2005
Something isn't right with our textile science course
Something isn't making sense; something is missing. Those who are supposed to help us understand the riddles of fiber science are not making their points clear! And this is happening in our course titled, non other than Textile-176.
According to the instructor, he has never had such horrid results ever in his teaching experience! An alarming number of students have flunked the second hourly and a huge number of C's and D's have been awarded. Since we've entered this institute we have been tortured in to believing that we are the worst thing ever happened to this place. The proverb works both ways I guess, there are times we feel that this place is the worst thing that could happen to anyon. Anyways I thought I might get a general opinion on the issue as burying our heads in sand and pretending that everything’s going to be alright won't get us any further.
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August 23, 2003
Apparel Manufacturing & Merchandizing, and Textile Chemistry
This year's freshmen class has a new program to choose from, the BBA Honors in Apparel Management and Merchandising degree.
The fashion and apparel industry needs bright talented executives to guide the technological revolution rapidly taking place with this billion-dollar industry. Skilled managers are required to deal with increasingly complex textile products and manufacturing techniques; tasks such as planning product lines months before they appear in the stores are the order of the day.
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