UGC Latest Circular: No Exams for Intermediate Students, Final Year Students to Give Exams in September

UGC latest circular has just been issued by Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union Cabinet Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India. The circular says that while intermediate students will be evaluated based on internal assessment, final year students will have to give exams in September 2020.

“The UGC has revisited its earlier guidelines related to university examinations. In view of the safety, career progression and placements of the students and their larger interests, after consulting HMO India and Ministry of Home Affairs India, it has been decided that

1. Intermediate semester students will be evaluated based on internal assessment (as per earlier issued guidelines),
2. 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 Home Affairs India for COVID-19 pandemic,” said the HRD Minister.

The terminal year examination will be held through offline, online or blended mode (combination of online and offline). Furthermore, a fresh academic calendar in place of the one issued on 29 April 2020 will be issued over the days to come.

Other guidelines issued on 29 April such as the following remain unchanged:

Universities may adopt easier methods to conduct examinations in a shorter rime such as multiple-choice questions, OMR based examinations, open-book examinations, open choices, presentation or assignment based, and so on.

Universities may take necessary steps to reduce examination time from 3 to 2 hours.

For intermediate semester or 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 and previous year’s or semester’s performance.

The students who have failed will be allowed to move on to the next semester. However, they will be required to pass the examination whenever it is held.

Students must be given adequate exposure to virtual laboratories through laboratory assignments and practical experiments. The link for the same will be shared by MHRD.