PhD of Austrian scholar at Pune’s SPPU stuck for last 12 years

4 min readPuneJul 30, 2026 08:02 PM IST Dr Gaikwad denied the allegations, saying he had extended full support to the scholar and said that delays stemmed from administrative lapses. (AI generated Image)An Austrian scholar enrolled at the Anthropology Department at Savitribai Phule Pune University in 2014 has been stuck without completion of his PhD with no resolution in sight in 12 years as of July 2026. While the scholar, Alexander Reisenbichler, alleges that non-cooperation by his PhD guide and former HoD at the department has led to him not being able to complete his PhD, the now retired professors deny these allegations and say that they have extended full cooperation to the candidate. The PhD guide says that misplacement of documents by the PhD department of the University has caused