In view of the COVID19 pandemic, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the academic calendar guidelines for first-year undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students for the academic session 2020-21.
The UGC officials have come out with an academic calendar for admissions and examinations for the first year PG and UG students on the basis of the recommendations of the expert committee.
Informing about the approval, Union education minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank tweeted: “In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission has accepted the Report of the Committee and approved the @ugc_india Guidelines on Academic Calendar for the First Year of Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate Students of the Universities for the Session 2020-21.”
Here is the academic calendar:
According to the guidelines, the academic session 2020-21 may commence from November 1 for the first-year students.
However, if there is a delay in the declaration of results in the qualifying examination, the universities may plan and start the academic session by November 18, UGC said.
There is no hard and fast rule on holding online and offline classes, a media report quoted Bhushan Patwardhan, vice president of UGC, as saying.
The Commission suggested that merit or entrance-based admissions for these students should complete by the end of October and the remaining vacant seats should be filled up by November 30.
The report further quoted Patwardhan as saying: “Institutes that complete their admission process sooner can start their academic year earlier and need not have to wait until November 18. The leeway was given considering the situation in Maharashtra, where examinations will end by October.”
A full refund will be made on account of cancellation of admissions/ migration of students up to November 30, the Commission said.
On cancellation or withdrawal of admissions up to December 31, the deduction of not more than Rs 1,000 can be made as processing fee, the Commission said.
The Commission has advised the universities to curtail their vacations for the timely awarding of degrees to the students.