Final-Year Exams Can be Held in September: UGC After MHA Nod

UGC has announced that the terminal semester examinations will be conducted by the end of September.

Image used for representational purpose.

(Photo: The Quint)

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday, 6 July, said that final-year university examinations may be conducted by the end of September, either online, offline or through a combination of both.

The much-awaited announcement was made by Union Human Resource Development Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal, who said that the guidelines were revisited keeping in mind the “safety, career progression and placements of the students.”

According to the UGC guidelines, final-year students having backlog should compulsorily be evaluated by conducting examinations in offline (pen & paper)/ online/ blended (online + offline) mode as per feasibility and suitability.

The guidelines also say that in case a student is unable to write final-year exams, she can appear for a special examination at a later period, as and when feasible. 

For students of the first and second semester, there have been no change in guidelines. This means that universities can evaluate students on the basis of internal assessment and marks scored in previous semesters, if they are unable to conduct exams due to the prevailing situation.

MHA Allows Final-Year Exams

Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had allowed the Human Resource Development Ministry to conduct final-year university examinations.

“The final-term examinations are to be compulsorily conducted as per the UGC Guidelines on examinations and academic calendar for the universities, and as per the standard operating procedure approved by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.”

MHA Order(Photo: PIB/Accessed by The Quint)

The order comes at a time when final-year students at the University of Delhi have been protesting the conduct of Open Book Examinations (OBEs), that have now been postponed to 10 July.

While DU students argue that the many of them do not have the resources to write OBEs – that require a stable internet connection to download questions and upload answer scripts – the university has been rather firm on its decision to conduct these exams.

Speaking to The Quint, Prof Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examinations at DU, had said that exams would definitely be conducted.

“OBEs will definitely be conducted and the schedule is final and not tentative.”

Prof Vinay Gupta, DU

It is not clear if DU will postpone its OBEs to September.

Dean Gupta’s remarks come in the wake of a massive campaign on Twitter, through which students DU students explained how the university’s mock tests to prepare students for OBEs were extremely glitchy and fear a repeat of the same during the final exams scheduled from 10 July.