Universities to allow admissions twice a year

Universities to allow admissions twice a year

Context: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has allowed universities to admit students twice a year — in July/ August and January/ February. It is not mandatory for universities to adopt the new system. 

Existing process and the change

• Students are now admitted once a year, in a single academic session that begins in July/ August.
• Now, the universities can admit students in two cycles, in July/ August and in January/February.
• It could allow universities to reflect the admission cycles in some countries that admit students twice a year. In the USA, admissions are done in the fall (August/ September) and in spring (January) session.

Benefits

• Enhance international collaborations and student exchanges as it will be in alignment with the global educational standards.
• Help increase the ‘gross enrollment ratio’ (GER).
• Improve employment opportunities for the graduates as industries can also do their campus recruitment twice a year.
• Enable the higher education institutes (HEIs) to plan their resource distribution, such as faculty, labs, classrooms and support services, more efficiently.