The University Grants Commission (UGC) has resolved that institutions of higher learning can admit students twice a year, starting from the coming academic year, intakes in January/February and July/August.
In an interaction on Tuesday, UGC Chairman Professor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said, "Yes, the decision was taken to start the admission of students twice in a year."
According to the present UGC regulations, students are admitted only once in a year, starting from July/August.
A typical academic year in India would be covering 12 months, from July/August to May/June.
Dr Kumar said, "This would be of great assistance to all students who miss the intake in July/August due to delayed board results, health issues, and other reasons. It would also keep them motivated due to much less waiting time for admission. Industries can also have campus recruitments twice a year to place more graduates."
Earlier, in its 571st meeting, the UGC had approved the bi-annual admissions for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online programs which shall be conducted from January and July of the current year.
As per data available in the UGC DEB portal, after this biannual admission policy in ODL and Online being effective, a total of 19,73,056 students took admission in July 2022, and another 4,28,854 in January 2023. This, in true terms, has made the policy helpful in a way that more close to half a million students joined their degree programs, which otherwise they would have been forced to wait a full academic year for joining.
Heartened by the positive feedback and experience from bi-annual admissions in ODL and online programs, UGC has decided to extend this exercise even to regular mode programs. Institutions conducting regular programs, starting from academic year 2021-22, will be allowed to take students twice in an academic year, in January/February or July/August.
Kumar further elaborated that those institutions which are better equipped with infrastructure and faculty can make this a scope of admitting more students in each academic year.
He added that biannual admissions are not mandatory for any institution.
"It is the flexibility that UGC provides to the HEIs who want to increase their student intake and offer new programmes in emerging areas. To be able to admit students twice a year, HEIs must make suitable amendments to their institutional regulations," he said.
Biannual admissions will also help institutions plan their resource allotment better, including faculty, labs, classrooms, and support services, thus improving operational efficiencies. In fact, many universities in different parts of the world today already have a biannual admission system.
"If Indian HEIs adopt the biannual admission cycle, our HEIs can enhance their international collaborations and student exchanges. As a result, our global competitiveness will improve, and we will align with the global educational standards," the UGC Chairman added.
He further added, "UGC believes that biannual admissions can substantially increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio and make India a 'Global Study Destination' as envisioned in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. If HEIs adopt biannual admissions, they need to work on administrative intricacies, good planning for increased use of available resources, and providing seamless support systems for the smooth transition of students admitted at dissimilar times of the year. HEIs can maximise the usefulness of biannual admissions only when they sufficiently prepare the faculty members, staff and students for the transition," Prof Jagadesh Kumar added.
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