kochi after relying on online classes and examination amid the covid19 pandemic the universities in the state are now conducting phd open defences too online the move is in the background of widespread disruption in the conduct of doctoral viva due to the covid19 crisis and uncertainty over resuming normal functioning of educational institutions prevails while cochin university of science and technology cusat mg university central university of kerala etc have started it many other varsities like sree sankaracharya university of sanskrit kalady plans to start it soon besides doctoral defences mphil vivavoce examination too are now conducted online by universities the decision will be beneficial for students who have been waiting for more than three months after submission of the thesis due to the lockdown as they will not have to miss the opportunities of applying for jobs and higher studiesone of the main reasons for opting the online medium is the difficulty in travelling for examiners mostly senior professors from universities in other states during the lockdown though students prefer offline defences due to the benefits like direct interaction and contact with the examiner satisfaction in presenting the thesis before a live audience etc universities do not entertain postponement of presentation date considering the rising covid19 cases network connectivity issue continuous exposure to computer screens during the presentation virtual audience etc were concerns initially but the defences went well as scheduled said aswathy nair associate professor central university of kerala who was the guide for a phd scholar who completed her presentation last weekcontroller of examinations at cusat benjamin varghese said that the online conduct of the defences gives the advantage of getting renowned professors and scientists as examiners which is very difficult to happen in normal times it is true that online presentation will not be as satisfactory as offline presentation but it went well as expected and audiences response too was good said princy peter a phd scholar of nit calicutktu conducts phd interviews onlineapj abdul kalam technological university ktu has published the list for phd admission after conducting the interviews online for the first time the university has selected 209 applicants for phd registration for the 201920 academic year the online interviews were conducted by a panel of over 30 external experts from premier institutes like iits and nitsstudents can find the list of the selected candidates on the official website of the university