Odd-semester in Colleges, Universities for Academic year 2020-21 likely to begin from November 18: UGC

Odd semester for the Academic Year 2020-21 for Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) students is likely to commence from November 18.

Odd semester for the Academic Year 2020-21 for Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) students is likely to commence from November 18. This is as per a plan that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has drawn at its emergent meeting held on September 21. Accordingly, the UGC had asked all the institutions to complete the admission process by October 31 and schedule classes to start from November 1.

UGC had also permitted Universities to start the academic year from November 18, in case there is a delay in the declaration of the result of the qualifying exams. UGC has also directed all the Universities to follow a 6-day week pattern for the academic season 2020-21 and 2021-22, in order to compensate for the academic loss of this batch of students. UGC in its guidelines noted that the institutions can continue the teaching-learning process in offline/online/blended mode.

Considering the coronavirus situation in the country, the UGC has directed all the Universities and Colleges to refund full fees, in case a student cancels the admission or migrate for this semester as a special case. The Guidelines also made it clear that there should be zero cancellation charges up to November 30. For cancellation/ withdrawal of admission after that the colleges can deduct not more than Rs 1000 as processing fee.

In order to make up for the delay in starting the academic session, the UGC has directed Universities to reduce breaks/vacations so that this batch of students gets their final results for the award of degree on time.

As per the calendar suggested for the academic session 2020-21, the odd semester exams should be conducted between March 8, 2021, to March 26. The even semester classes will begin from April 5, 2021. The even semester exams are planned between August 9 to 21, 2021 and after the semester break from August 22 to 29, 2021, the odd semester session for the academic year 2021-22 will commence from August 30, 2021.

Read More:

• Decision to open schools in Meghalaya after taking feedback from parents: State Education Minister
• IIT Kharagpur researchers develop robot to identify, treat plant disease
• Telangana Government releases Unlock 5.0 guidelines; decision on school reopening dates pending