No decision on Patiala varsity evaluations

Patiala: Punjabi University in Patiala is yet to form a panel of experts or apply a formula to declare the pass marks or CGPA of the promoted intermediate student.
On July 21, the varsity had announced to promote all intermediate students who are registered with it to the next semester/class, provided that they have submitted the examination form for May 2020 exams.
University authorities had then claimed that students who will be having average grades/marks/CGPA less than the minimum pass marks/grades/CGPA will have to fulfil university requirements or conditions for clearing exams of that semester as and when they are held to become eligible for the award of the degree. If at any time, a student is found ineligible to sit in May 2020 exams, the promotion will stand cancelled. “We are working on a formula, as per the guidelines of the state government. A panel of experts will be formed soon to take a decision. We also started online classes on August 1. We are studying the methods applied by other educational institutions, including GNDU, in promotion of intermediate students,” said Jaswinder Singh Khattar, examination controller at Punjabi University.
On other hand, uncertainty has also been prevailing among students of terminal or exiting classes as no decision has been taken on their exams. There are around 78,000 such students with Punjabi University, its colleges and private institutions affiliated to it. Khattar said they were waiting for guidelines and instructions of the state government. Punjab secretary (higher education) Rahul Bhandari said Punjab government had already requested Centre for reconsideration of UGC instructions. The University Grants Commission, in its guidelines, has said all universities will have to conduct final-year or final-semester exams before September 30.
The university has compiled a merit list of BTech students and is expected to release the final list by Wednesday. The university claimed to have received 1,000 application forms for admissions in the BTech, whereas it received around 600 forms last year.
“We have total 800 seats. We have displayed a tentative merit list of around 800-900 B.Tech students today, while final list will be displayed by tomorrow. Around 5,800 application forms of many other post-Class XII courses have also been received,” said Prof Manjit Singh, in-charge of the varsity’s admission cell.