Big Decision By UGC: Indian University Is Now Allowing Admissions Twice A Year

A big decision has been announced by the side of the University Grants Commission (UGC), colleges and universities in India will now be able to offer admissions twice a year from academic year 2024-25. Hence, will be able to run two academic sessions in a year instead of one, which means all the institutions will be able to admit students biannually–Said the commission’s chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar on Tuesday.

Initially, as per the UGC rules and regulations, all the Indian institutes offer admission in a year, starting in July/August and ending in May/June, in physical mode.

However as per the policy decision made by UGC in the meeting held on May 15, 2024. Colleges offering admissions via both online and physical modes are now given the right to admit students twice a year, assuming this will give more flexibility to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

The commission’s chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said last year’s decision has helped approximately half a million students to enter their degree courses without waiting for the entire academic year to end.

He further said, “After the UGC permitted two cycle admissions in a year for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online modes, as per the information furnished by the HEIs on the UGC portal, in addition to a total of 19,73,056 students were enrolled in July 2022 and an additional 4,28,854 students joined in January 2023 in ODL and online programs,”

Chairman Kumar said, considering the numerous responses and interest from the students side in ODL and online programs admission will be conducted biannually, the council has made this decision to allow HEIs to admit students twice a year, either in January/February or July/August from the upcoming academic year.

He said, “With this decision by UGC, HEIs offering programs either in online/ODL mode or regular physical mode will be able to admit students twice a year,”

He also says the HEIs do not have sufficient infrastructure and teaching faculty can accept this decision otherwise, it is not compulsory to offer biannual admissions.

Kumar said, “If Indian universities can offer admission twice a year, it will benefit many students. Such as those who missed admission to a university in the July/August session due to a delay in the announcement of board results, health issues, or personal reasons. With biannual admissions in place, industries can also do their campus recruitment twice a year, improving employment opportunities for the graduates.” He says universities universities worldwide already offer admissions biannually.

He said, “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”.

Then he added a point, “Biannual admissions can substantially increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio and make India a ‘Global Study Destination’ as envisioned in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. HEIs can maximize the usefulness of biannual admissions only when they sufficiently prepare the faculty members, staff and students for the transition.”

On Twitter, the University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Jagadeesh Kumar says, “In our country, we always start admission for one cycle in July-August but in the last commission meeting we decided that from now on all universities and colleges in India can do admission twice, once in July-August and second in January-February. This will greatly benefit our students, those who could not join in July-August can join in the January-February session and universities can use their infrastructure efficiently and the placements that happen in our universities and colleges can be done twice. So this decision will benefit students a lot. Our regular admissions for July-August will start now but for those universities which want to adopt the by-annual admission process, there is 6 months, if you want to do it in January, then you can do it by planning in 6 months. This is not mandatory, universities which have the infrastructure, and teaching resources, can plan well, only then universities can start by annual admissions…”

Another tweet by the UGC INDIA, explaining the importance of biannual admissions offered 3 major points:

• Flexibility, as students can now apply twice a year, avoiding long waits if they miss the July/August session;
• Increased Access, with more opportunities for students to join their desired programmes;
• Aligning with the practice of international universities for enhancing collaborations.