Online or offline, the students in the final year of college will have to sit for exams by the end of September, says the UGC

• The students in the final year of college will have to sit for exams by the end of September — online or offline mode.
  
• This is as per the revised guidelines rolled out by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
  
• In case the student is unable to sit for the examination in September, they may be allowed to appear in special exams for those courses, which may be conducted by the universities later, when the situation normalises.
  
• The regulatory body said that the schedule for the intermediate examinations or semesters remains unchanged.

Online or offline, the students in the final year of college will have to sit for exams by the end of September. This is as per the revised guidelines rolled out by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

“Evaluation of the terminal semester students which was to be done through examinations in the month of July, now their examinations will be conducted by the end of September-2020, following the guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” Union Cabinet Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said in a tweet.


According to the new guidelines, the final year or terminal semester students having backlogs “should compulsorily be evaluated by conducting examinations.”

In case the student is unable to sit for the examination in September, they may be allowed to appear in special exams for those courses, which may be conducted by the universities later, when the situation normalises. The guidelines, however, clarified that this would be a one-time measure for the current batch.

Schedule for the intermediate examinations remains unchanged

The regulatory body said that the schedule for the intermediate examinations or semesters remains unchanged. UGC had earlier said that the next academic session will begin in August, 2020. “The academic session 2020-21 may commence from August 1 for old students and September 1 for fresh students,” it said.

On the other hand, those in the first semester will be promoted based on their internal assessment scores. Students in other semesters will be promoted based on their academic record in the previous year and internal assessment of the current semester.

As many as 33 crore students are enrolled in over 45,000 colleges in India.


“Universities may conduct terminal, intermediate semester examinations in offline or online mode, as per their ordinances and regulations, scheme of examinations, observing the guidelines of ‘social distancing’ and keeping in view the support system available with them and ensuring fair opportunity to all students,” the earlier guidelines said.

The exams shall be conducted for a duration of two hours now instead of three hours. In addition, the universities will have to follow a six-day week pattern “to compensate the loss for the remaining 2019-20 session”.

In March, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) directed all the educational institutions — including the universities, entrance exam centres to shut down due to coronavirus.

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