UGC Academic Calendar 2020-21 Updated

The UGC (University Grants Commission of India) is a statutory body set up by the government of India in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Human Resource Development and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education. It provides recognition to universities in India, and disbursements of funds to such recognized universities and colleges.

Reason for the shutdown

Since March, schools, colleges and universities across India have been shut down to prevent the further spreading of the coronavirus. With an increasing number of cases every day, it does not seem like classes will be resuming any time soon. Though some institutes have started online classes, UGC has updated their academic calendar and moved back the dates to August and September. All of these measures claimed to be taken, are advisory.

Many classes and exams had to be cancelled due to this sudden closure. But universities can’t just cancel out exams and disregard them completely. Many people are wishing to take admission and are continually asking for details. The new calendar has the solutions to these problems. Why waste time at home when you can study now and ace your tests later. Try the Entri App today!

The UGC Guidelines

The Guidelines issued were based on UGC’s two expert committees’ recommendations. The guidelines are suggestive. It has been recommended that universities may adopt alternative and simplified modes and methods of examinations to complete the process in a shorter period like reducing the time from 3 hours to 2 hours. The guidelines also stated that universities may follow a six-day week patter and all teaching staff should be trained with the use of the technology and be adequately trained for the use of online teaching tools so that they can complete about 25% of the syllabus online.

Universities are advised to:

• Develop virtual classroom and video conferencing facility and all teaching staff should be trained with the use of the technology
• Give students the exposure to lab assignments/practical experiments through virtual labs, sharing of recorded visuals and making use of the digital resources available.

According to the Times of India, higher education institutions are given the flexibility to adopt/adapt and implement these guidelines by making alterations/amendments based on the best interests of students and the educational system. The guidelines also stated, “The universities should develop a fool-proof plan before the resumption of session, strictly following the norms of ‘social distancing’ and other required precautions, to avoid any eventuality arising due to COVID-19.”. The UGC suggested two academic calendars, one for the remaining portion of 2019-2020 and the new 2020-2021.

The Calendar

Activities like project work, completion of syllabus, internship reports, etc. will be conducted between June 1 and June 15, 2020. The exams will be conducted in July and classes from August 1. While the classes go on for the old students, the admission for the new students will be taking place in August. If you’re looking to go for admission then you might want to place a remember the date ‘August 1’. The classes for the new students are due to begin on September 1. but why wait so long? start prepping today with the Entri App!

For the current academic year:

For the academic year 2020-2021:

Coronavirus is a very serious issue and we advise you to take precautions against it. Stay at home, learn, learn a new hobby and we can all get through this together. Keep learning and have a nice day 🙂