According to the data available with higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC), more than 180 universities have already conducted exams and another 234 are planning to do so in online/offline mode in the months of August and September.

Shortly after it issued guidelines on holding mandatory final year exams in the month of September, the UGC had written to different universities seeking to know the status. Of the 640 universities which wrote back to UGC, over 450 said they either conducted the exams or were planning to do so in the coming months. Around 30 universities are waiting for directions from their statutory councils before holding the exams.

As per the data, 177 universities are yet to take a final call on holding these exams and 27 private universities, which were set up in 2019-20, don’t have to hold the exams as the batches in various courses are yet to enter the final year.

“The UGC has sought the data from various universities. In what is a positive sign, a large number of them have either held exams or are in the process. The UGC believes that holding exams for final year students would be greatly beneficial to their long-term prospects,” said a person familiar with the developments.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Disaster Management Authority said it will not conduct the final year exam due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the State Minister of Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant said. He said, “We will continue our previous decision which was taken in the Disaster Management Committee meeting. The government never said that it will not conduct final exams. Exams will be conducted but only after the COVID-19 situation improves.”

Source: NDTV

Also read: UGC to ask all states to adopt revised guidelines for final year exams