The academic session 2021-2022 shall commence latest by October 1, 2021, for first semester/year students.
University Grants Commission (UGC) on Friday released new guidelines for universities and colleges that included information pertaining to exams, admissions and academic calender. The guidelines directed colleges that the admissions to first-year courses for the session 2021-22 should be completed no later than September 30 and the academic session must commence on October 1, 2021.
Rajnish Jain, Secretary, UGC sent a letter to Vice-Chancellors of universities and principals of colleges and informed them about fresh guidelines on examination and academic calendar in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are some important directives issued in the notice.
1. Admissions to the first-year courses/programmes for the session 2021-2022, shall be completed by no later than September 30, 2021. The last date for admissions to fill up the remaining vacant seats shall be October 31, 2021. The relevant documents of the qualifying examination can be accepted up to December 31, 2021.
2. The academic session 2021-2022 shall commence latest by October 1, 2021, for first semester/year students.
3. As per guidelines of UGC guideline on examination, the current academic session 2020-21 the Terminal Semester/ Final Year Examinations (2020-2021) be compulsorily conducted in offline (pen & paper)/ online/ blended (online+offline) mode by no later than August 31, 2021, following the prescribed protocols/guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. The results of all the school boards for Class XII are expected to be declared by July 31, 2021. However, if there is a delay in the declaration of results, higher education institutions may plan and start the academic session by October 18, 2021.
5. In view of the financial hardships faced by parents due to lockdowns and related factors, a full refund of fees should be made on account of all cancellations of admissions/migrations of students upto October 31, 2021.
"The teaching-learning process may continue in online/offline/ blended mode," UGC added.
(With ANI Inputs)
