Pandemic delay leaves grad students worried

Pandemic delay leaves grad students worried

Mohita.Tewari@timesgroup.com

Lucknow:  09.07.2020

While the corona pandemic has derailed the academic calender this year, students are now worried that the ripple effect may continue next year too, as the academic sessions of all the universities in Lucknow are set to get delayed by at least three months. Worst hit are the final year students, many of whom may lose the opportunity to apply for higher studies or research programmes and even competitive examinations.

The academic sessions in most universities begin in July. But this year, even results have not been declared yet. While some universities have decided to promote students to next classes based on internal evaluation and performance in the previous semester, Lucknow University is yet to take a call on promotion policy. Officers of various universities say it will take at least three months to put the session back on the track.

TOI spoke to students of LU, Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University (SMNRU), Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University (KMCLU) and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) on the issue.

The common refrain was that the delay in start of the new session would extend their course duration by 3-4 months. This means, they will not be able to apply elsewhere for admission/research after graduation/postgraduation, winter internship plans would get derailed, and they may even lose an attempt in competitive exams which have limited attempts or age-bar. Students, therefore, want the government to chalk out a plan to check this ripple effect.

Arshit Shukla, BA III student of LU, said, “Had results been declared by now, we would have applied for admission in post graduation at other places. Now, it seems, the option for us would be to continue here.”

Mohit Singh, LU BSc III student, said he had plans to pursue postgraduation in Delhi and alongside join the coaching for civil service exams. But the plan is now on hold due to delay in announcement of results.

Abid Hasan, BCom II student of SMNRU, said, “Neither results have been declared nor have classes resumed. It seems the three-year course will take three-and-ahalf-year to complete and thereby impact our future prospects.”

“The summer break has already gone unutilized and now it appears the delay in session will also hit internship plans in winter break,” said Akshay Mishra, BTech III, Institute of Engineering and Technology, AKTU.

Priya Malhotra, who has passed Class XII and applied for graduation, said “Normally, new session would begin in July, but this year the admission process will be completed by September-October, which means fewer months to complete the session or a delay in the three-year-course.”

Barely 20% colleges want central system

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow

: Less than 20% of the colleges associated with Lucknow University have opted for admissions under the university’s newly introduced centralised admission system. As many as 35 colleges out of 176 had applied for the system by Wednesday, the last day for the application.

None of the four government and 20 government-aided colleges applied for admitting students under the university’s system. The colleges which have sent their assent for the system are private ones which have applied mainly for conducting admissions for professional courses like BBA and BCom (Hons).

The city’s top colleges such as National PG College, Jai Narain PG College, Isabella Thoburn College, Avadh Girls Degree College and Lucknow Christian College have already refused the new process, saying their admission process had already begun or that they had their own system to maintain their brand.

“LU has given the freedom to colleges to decide whether they want to go for centralised admission or not. The university will conduct the admission process of those which have applied under the centralised system,” said LU spokesperson Durgesh Srivastava.

On July 2, LU had sent a notification to all colleges informing them that for the first time the university will conduct centralised admissions. Under the new plan, along with admitting its own students, LU would also conduct admissions of colleges affilaited to it.