COVID-19 Outbreak: UGC to release Academic Calendar for Colleges and Universities soon
UGC is all set to release guidelines for colleges and universities next week on measures to be taken for the current and next academic session.
The University Grants Commission, UGC, has recently released a notice regarding the ‘Examinations and Academic calendar’. In the notice, UGC is stating that it will release the guidelines for academic measures to be taken by colleges and universities for the current and the next academic session next week. The guidelines will be based on the suggestions given by the two committees which were formed earlier.
The committees were formed to take note of the issues of academic loss and others to study online education and its effects on the education system of India in the time of lockdown due to pandemic. As per Commission’s statement “UGC constituted two committees to look into the issues being faced by the universities and colleges regarding teaching-learning processes, examinations, admissions, academic calendar, and other related issues in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and countrywide lockdown, to avoid academic loss and take appropriate measures for the future of students.”
The first committee was headed by Professor RC Kuhad, former member UGC and Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Haryana, which was looking into the matter of evaluating issues that higher education institutions are facing due to Coronavirus pandemic with regards to issues related to examinations and academic calendar. As per reports, the committee has recommended starting of the new academic session from September 2020 instead of July 2020.
On similar lines, a second committee was also formed under the guidance of rofessor Nageshwar Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to recommend methods of promoting online education and better adopting of the same by teachers and students amid the on-going lockdown. The second committee in its recommendations has suggested that colleges and universities that have strong technology infrastructure should adopt the online learning model and also explore ways of holding the final and semester exams for students in online mode. For others, the committee has recommended to wait until the lockdown ends and hold exams in traditional pen-and-paper mode.
However, students must note that the recommendations made by the expert committee are in no way binding on the UGC and they will be further evaluated and discussed by experts to transform them into actionable guidelines for the colleges and universities.
The reports which was submitted by both the committees on April 24 will be discussed in the UGC Commission meeting and based on the decision of the Commission, after which UGC will issue guidelines/ advisories, next week, to the universities and colleges regarding the measures to be taken for the current academic session as well as next academic session in the larger interest of the student community,” the statement added.
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