Over 450 universities have conducted final exams or planning to do so: UGC

The University Grants Commission (UGC) Thursday said over 450 universities have either conducted their final examinations or are planning to do so in offline or online mode.

The status update by the higher education regulator came amid opposition by several states to conducting examinations in universities in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases.

The commission had asked universities for a status report on the conduct of examination.

It received responses from 640 universities including 120 deemed ones, 229 private universities, 40 central universities and 251 state universities.

"Out of the 640 universities, 454 universities have either conducted the examination or are planning to conduct," the UGC said in a statement.

"While 182 universities have already conducted examination either online or offline, 234 are planning to conduct examination in August or September and 38 are planning to conduct examination as per the directions of the relevant Statutory Council," it added.

A total of 177 universities are yet to decide on the conduct of examination.

"In case of 27 private universities, which were established during 2019-20 to till date, the first batch is yet to become eligible for final examination," the UGC said.

Earlier this month, the University Grants Commission (UGC) in its revised guidelines directed the higher education institutions that final year examinations would be conducted in the month of September 2020, instead of July 2020, as per its guidelines announced in April.

Punjab, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Delhi have expressed reservations against the examination plan, citing the COVID-19 situation.

According to the HRD Ministry, the guidelines issued by the UGC have to be followed mandatorily as academic evaluation of students is crucial to ensure credibility and career opportunities.

The UGC guidelines of April and the revised guidelines of July changed the examination window from July to September.

However, it directed all higher education institutions to conduct the terminal semester or final year examinations either offline, online or in blended mode.

The first and second year students were exempted from the exams and will be assessed based on previous semester performance and internal assessments.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16, when the Centre announced a nationwide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

A nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day. While the government has eased several restrictions, schools and colleges continue to remain closed.