Uttar Pradesh varsities: First-year students to be promoted, test for final year

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to promote all first year undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in state-run and private universities and colleges in view of the pandemic. The new academic session (2021-22) will commence from September 13, said deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma. There are 41 lakh students enrolled in UP universities.
As reported by TOI in its June 2 edition, students in final year/terminal semester of various UG and PG courses across the state will be assessed through an examination before they receive degrees. In institutions where exams for 5th semester (in UG) and 3rd semester (in PG) were not held, last semester scores will be calculated on marks obtained in previous semesters.
Students in second year, who did not take exams last year will also take the test. Students dissatisfied with their marks will be allowed to appear for improvement examinations in one or all subjects to beheld in 2022-23, he said.
Both state and private universities must conduct OMR-based test which consists of multiple-choice questions by mid-August. The government recommended universities to reduce both examination duration and number of questions in the test. The three-hour test will be reduced to 90 minutes and number of questions will be reduced to five, instead of 10, Sharma said.
The government further said, universities could consider the option of online examination for courses, they think is feasible. It also recommended universities to award marks of practical examinations for terminal semester/graduating students as per performance in theory papers. The viva-voce should be done online. However, the final call on modalities of conducting examination will be taken by respective universities. All results are to be announced by August 31.
For universities where both UG and PG courses are run under the annual scheme, the government decided to promote all first-year students to second year. First year results of such students will be tabulated based on performance in second year examinations when they take them. Universities which conducted exams for first-year students in 2020 will prepare second-year results of such students based on performance in first year. Subsequently, students will be promoted to third year.
However, in universities which couldn’t conduct exams for first year in 2020, students must appear for exams in second year through an OMR based test. Based on their performance, they will be admitted to the third year.
Under the semester system, for second-semester students who didn’t take their exams, all universities will prepare results on basis of their performance in first semester exams and mid-term/internal evaluation of second semester. The same formula will be applied to UG and PG students who are in odd semesters.
In institutions where no examinations were held, marks for odd semesters will be based on performance of students in mid-term/internal evaluation (whichever is available), results of even semesters will be based on previous semester marks.