Key Points From UGC's Revised Guidelines For Universities; New Academic Session Begins From Nov 1 Amid Covid-19

UGC Revised Guidelines: These revised guidelines have been set after the recommendation of an expert committee. The new academic year will now begin from November 1, 2020, for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

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New Delhi: The University Grant Commission (UGC) released a list of revised guidelines for the new academic session 2020-21 for first-year college and university students opting for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.  These revised guidelines have been set after the recommendation of an expert committee. The new academic year will now begin from November 1, 2020, for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Here are pointed takeaways from the fresh directives:

• The institutions may start their academic session of the first year at the earliest. If the necessity arises, provisional admissions may also be made. The relevant documents of the qualifying examination can be accepted up to 31 December 2020.
• In case of delays, Universities may plan and start the academic session by 18 November 2020. The teaching-learning process may continue in offline/online/blended mode.
• Entrance based admissions for first-year programmes be completed by the end of October 2020. The last date for admissions to fill up the remaining vacant seats - 30 November 2020.
• Universities can follow a 6-day week pattern for the academic session 2020-21 and 2021-2022 to compensate for the loss.
• A full refund of fees is to be made on account of all cancellation of admissions/migration of students, up to 30 November 2020, for this very session as a special case. All charges have to be refunded in totality (Zero Cancellation charges) on account of cancellation/migration up to November 30. After that, the entire fee collected from a student can be refunded in full after deduction of not more than Rs.1000/- as processing fee.
• Breaks/vacations to be curtailed so that students get their final results for degrees to be awarded on a timely basis.
• Guidelines as issued on 29.04.2020 and 06.07.2020 over the modes of teaching, conduct of examinations, the importance of physical & social distancing, etc. remain unchanged and mandatory.

Important Dates Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had shared the official notification on Twitter where he wrote, "In view of the Covid-19 Pandemic, UGC India has issued guidelines on Examinations & Academic Calendar for UG & PG Students for the Session 2020-21. For more details, visit the UGC website: https://ugc.ac.in". WATCH | MP: Lady teacher set up Scooty Library to teach students