Biannual Admissions Will Benefit Many Students and Improve Opportunities: UGC Chairman
Currently, UGC Regulations allow the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to admit students in one academic session in a year starting in July/August.
In a major policy shift, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar announced that Indian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can now admit students twice a year. "If Indian universities can offer admission twice a year, it will benefit many students," he stated, highlighting the advantages of biannual admissions for those who miss the traditional admission cycle due to delays or personal reasons.
Currently, UGC Regulations allow the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to admit students in one academic session in a year starting in July/August. An 'Academic session' is twelve months, beginning in July/August. Indian HEIs, therefore, follow the academic session that begins in July-August and ends in May-June.
UGC has decided in its 571st commission held on 25 July 2023 to permit biannual admissions under Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online modes in January and July during an academic year.
After UGC has permitted two cycle admissions in a year for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online modes, as per the information furnished by the HEIs on the UGC DEB portal, in addition to a total of 19,73,056 students were enrolled in July 2022 and an additional 4,28,854 students joined in January 2023 in ODL and online programs. These numbers show that permitting a second academic session in a year has helped nearly half a million students join their degree programmes without waiting for one full academic year.
Considering the tremendous response and interest from the students in ODL and online programs in biannual admissions, in its meeting held on 15-05-2024, UGC took a policy decision to allow Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) who offer programs in regular mode to admit students twice in a year, either in January/February or July/August from the coming academic year. With this decision by UGC, HEIs offering programs either in online/ODL mode or regular physical mode will be able to admit students twice in year.
Those HEIs that have the required infrastructure and teaching faculty can utilize the opportunity to admit students biannually. Offering biannual admissions is not mandatory for the HEIs; it is the flexibility that UGC provides to the HEIs who want to increase their student intake and offer new programmes in emerging areas. To be able to admit students twice a year, HEIs must make suitable amendments to their institutional regulations.
Jagadesh Kumar further elaborated: "Biannual university admissions will help students maintain motivation since they do not have to wait one full year to be admitted if they miss admission in the current cycle. With biannual admissions in place, industries can also do their campus recruitment twice a year, improving employment opportunities for the graduates. Biannual admissions will also enable the HEIs to plan their resource distribution, such as faculty, labs, classrooms and support services, more efficiently, resulting in a better functional flow within the university. Universities worldwide already follow a biannual admission system.”
“If Indian HEIs adopt the biannual admission cycle, our HEIs can enhance their international collaborations and student exchanges. As a result, our global competitiveness will improve, and we will align with the global educational standards. Biannual admissions can substantially increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio and make India a 'Global Study Destination' as envisioned in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020,” added Prof Kumar.
He further stated that if HEIs adopt biannual admissions, they need to work on administrative intricacies, good planning for increased use of available resources, and providing seamless support systems for the smooth transition of students admitted at dissimilar times of the year. HEIs can maximize the usefulness of biannual admissions only when they sufficiently prepare the faculty members, staff and students for the transition.
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Abhay an alumnus of IIMC and Delhi University, has over a decade long experience of reporting on various beats of journalism. During his free time he prefers listening to music or play indoor and outdoor games.