UGC has recently released new guidelines related to academic calendar and exams for the undergraduates, postgraduate students who are pursuing various courses across universities in India.
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New Academic Calendar for 2021
As per UGC guidelines, online and offline classes or combination of both has been recommended for the universities to continue conducting lectures for various subjects of the students.
UGC has also encouraged to use technology for teaching and learning processes in the current pandemic situation. Since gatherings are not allowed, most of the universities would be using online classes / online videos to teach students according to their curriculum.
Live classes would enable students to learn from anywhere. Most of the students are situated in their home town and may not be present near to university or institute campus. So opting for live classes would be the perfect way to continue academic sessions in the current situation.
Admissions season to be postponed till October-November 2020
With unlock is happening in a phase-wise manner, UGC has recommended postponement of various dates related to the admission process. Now, most of the admission processes are likely to continue till November 2020. Academic cycle/ season would be adjusted accordingly.
Final Year students need to appear for the exam
Final year students for undergraduate or graduate courses would need to appear for the exam in order to get their course completion/ degree certificate. Initially, it was proposed to conduct the exam in the month of July, adhering the social distancing norms.
But considering the current situation, the expert committee has recommended the following things
- Universities are expected to complete the examination process by September 2020, mode of the exam can be pen and paper-based, online or combination of both. On top of everything, guidelines of social distancing should be followed, essentially.
- Students who may not be able to appear for the exam as per scheduled times should be provided with another opportunity to attempt the exam.
- Students who have backlogs from the final year are a must appear for the exam in pen and paper or online mode.
Technology Adoption is likely to happen to conduct Online Exams
Conducting exam in pen and paper mode is quite challenging in the current situation considering restrictions for social gathering. Universities and educational institutions should adopt technology in changing conditions.
Following could be the ways to manage academic exams
- Students can be provided with 1 or 2 mock online exams for practice so that they can understand how online exams work.
- Students should also be provided online how-to videos and detailed instructions for online exams.
- Online exams can be attempted using mobile phones especially considering each student would not be able to have access to laptops or computers.
- Feedback of mock exams should be worked upon for final online exams.
- Students facing the issue with the network can be invited at the designated university centre/ academic centre to appear for the online exam. In such a case, proper scheduling can be done to avoid public gathering at a certain location.
- Re-exams can be arranged immediately after completion of online exams as online exams provide flexibility to manage result processing in a quick time.
- Students who are unable to appear for online exams during predefined time table can be provided with a flexible option to attempt the online exam at designated university, institutes computer lab. Social gatherings can be avoided with proper precautions.
Technology adoption can help universities and institutes to manage their exams online. Online exams can also provide flexibility to the whole exam management and conduction activity.
With the right use of technology like Remote proctoring, examiners can easily monitor the remote candidates who are appearing for the Online Exams.
Many universities are taking benefit of remote proctoring technology and switching over to proctored exam mode. A lot of universities and institutes have successfully conducted online proctored exams for their students.
Artificial intelligence for facial recognition can also help to monitor and identify remote users attempting online exams. AI can help you to do the auto exam invigilation process quite easily.
It is time for universities to switch over to Remote Proctored Online exams.
