UGC's decision to conduct final year exam crucial for student's academic career: Education Minister

The decision on final-year examinations by UGC is keeping the future of students in mind.

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that University Grant Commission's (UGC) decision to conduct the final year exams is considering the future of students in mind.  It was done so that students do not face any difficulty in the future. The UGC has given an option to the universities to conduct the examination in online, offline, or blended mode, he said while interacting with the Vice-Chancellors of different universities.

He further said that the new National Education Policy (NEP) will help to strengthen the country's position as a leader globally. "We have aimed to increase the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) to 50 per cent by 2035, though, it's a huge target, but we have to achieve it which means enrolling 3.5 crores more students," Pokhriyal said.

"This NEP 2020 is the foundation of nation-building. I urge you to plan how research can be improved. We have always been in favour of giving autonomy to universities, in the phased manner we are looking at how to improve the 45,000-degree colleges and give them autonomy. Right now only 8,000 colleges have the autonomy, but in the phased manner this will be increased, he added.

The UGC on July 6 had issued exam-related guidelines, in which, it had asked the varsities to complete the final year/ final semester exams by September end in online, offline or blended mode. Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court of India after that challenging the guidelines and seeking cancellation of final year exams.

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