Representative image showing students in a college.
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New Delhi: University Grants Commission Chairperson Jagadesh Kumar on Tuesday said that from now on, Indian universities and higher education institutions will be allowed to offer admissions twice a year, like foreign universities.
Currently, as per the regulations of the government, admissions take place only during July and August, but with the UGC’s decision admissions can also take place in January and February. The changes will take place from the upcoming academic session.
“In India, admissions take place only once during the academic year. In the last Commision meeting, we took the decision to allow Indian universities and colleges to admit the students twice in a year; they can admit a second batch in January-February, in addition to the July-August admissions. The primary advantage is that those students who missed the admission cycle due to a delay in the announcement of board results, health issues, or personal reasons do not have to wait for one whole year,” Kumar said.
Prior to this, the UGC, in its 571st commission held on July 25, 2023, had decided to permit biannual admissions under the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online modes in January and July during an academic year. Till now, two cycles of admissions have taken place in ODL and Online courses. About 4,28,854 students joined in January 2023 in these programs, in addition to 19,73,056 students enrolled in July 2022.
UGC officials said that the numbers pointed at a healthy trend since nearly half a million students join degree programmes without waiting for one full academic year.
Mamidala said that following the response and interest in these programmes, the UGC, in a meeting held on May 15 this year, passed a policy decision to allow Higher Education Institutions who offer programs in regular mode to admit students twice in a year.
“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. Biannual admissions can substantially increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio and make India a 'Global Study Destination' as envisioned in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020,” he added.