The new academic session for old students of the universities and colleges will commence from August 1 while the session for the new students will begin from September 1, 2020.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) released the much-awaited academic calendar and guidelines for the 2020-21 session in presence of Union human resources development minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

According to the UGC calendar, the admissions for the 2020-21 session will be conducted between August 1-31, 2020.

The pending terminal and intermediate examinations will be conducted between July-August, 2020.

The UGC released the new guidelines on examinations and academic calendar in view of the COVID19 pandemic for the universities and colleges under it on Wednesday

However, the Commission recommended that universities may adopt alternative and simplified modes and methods of examinations to complete the process in shorter period of time like reducing the time from 3 hours to 2 hours as well offer flexibility of both online and offline exams.

“The universities may conduct Ph.D., M. Phil. and practical examinations and viva-voce examinations through Skype or other meeting apps, and in case of intermediate semesters, the practical examinations may be conducted during the ensuing semesters,” Union HRD minister Nishank tweeted while sharing the guidelines.

“For intermediate semester/year students, the universities may conduct examinations, after making a comprehensive assessment of their level of preparedness, otherwise grading be done based on the internal evaluation,” the Union HRD minister further tweeted.

The guidelines and academic calendar have been prepared based on the recommendations of an Expert Committee, formed by the UGC to look into the issues faced by the universities and colleges in view of the COVID19 pandemic.

The guidelines are advisory in nature and each university may chart out its own plan of action taking into consideration the issues pertaining to COVID19 pandemic.

As per the guidelines, the universities may conduct terminal /intermediate semester /year examinations in offline / online mode, as per their ordinances/ rules 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.

In case the situation does not appear to be normal in view of COVID19, in order to maintain “social distancing”, safety and health of the students, grading of the students could be composite of 50% marks on the basis of the pattern of internal evaluation, said the guidelines.

The UGC suggested two academic calendars, one for the 2019-2020 (the portion which remained incomplete due to the COVID19 outbreak and the lockdown) and another for 2020-21.

For the old calendar year, the teaching-learning process would continue via online/ distance learning/ social media/emails/video conferencing, among others till May 31, 2020.

Activities like finalisation of dissertation/ project work/ internship reports/ e-labs/ completion of syllabus/ internal assessment/assignment/ placement drive will be conducted between June 1 and June 15, 2020.

The examinations will be conducted between July 1 and July 31, 2020 and the results will be announced on July 31, 2020 (for terminal) and August 14, 2020 (for intermediate).

Every institute should develop virtual classroom and video conferencing facility and all teaching staff should be trained with the use of the technology, the UGC advised.

According to the guidelines, the universities should prepare e-content/e-lab experiments and upload the same on their websites.

The UGC advised that the universities strengthen the mechanism of mentor-mentee counselling through a dedicated portal on university website to impart timely guidance and counselling to the students.