No end-sem or PG exam from May 20 to 25, notifies Delhi University

Delhi University postpones postgraduate exams from May 20-25 due to "unavoidable circumstances," causing confusion and potential scheduling conflicts for students.

New Delhi

Students speculated the move could be aimed at avoiding clash with the UPSC exams. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The University of Delhi (DU) will not hold any postgraduate or professional semester examination between May 20 to May 25, it said in a notice issued earlier this week, without providing a reason for the same.

The notice, dated April 29, cited “unavoidable circumstances”, which, professors and students speculated, could refer to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) preliminary examinations on May 24.

The notice, a copy of which was accessed by HT, reads: “The Competent Authority has decided to reschedule the Postgraduate & Professional Semester Examinations originally scheduled to be held between 20th May, 2026 to 25th May, 2026 only. Accordingly, all the Departments are requested to send the revised date-sheets afresh for approval of the Competent Authority. The revised schedule should be prepared with due care to ensure smooth conduct of examinations.”

Vikas Gupta, a professor from the history department, said that while the move would help students appearing for the civil services exam, it would cause many problems for others. “Public and the state services commissions should conduct exams while avoiding university exams, as they know that most of these candidates would be appearing for these exams. This will shorten the vacation time of teachers and create a lot of additional work for them.”

While some students were happy about having more time to prepare for the civil services exam and for their university exams, many were against it. “I feel confused as we have not gotten the new date sheet yet, and there is no clarity. Additionally, the later the exams are conducted, the worse the problem of the heat will be,” said Nandini Chobey, 22, a postgraduate student in the department of philosophy.

Students who had already booked tickets for travel stated that the decision would cause them monetary loss.

“I am really disappointed but not surprised. I was going to travel with my family after my exams ended and had already booked tickets, but now I have to rearrange everything,” said a final-year English master’s student from Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College.

Other students pointed out that if the exams were extended towards the middle or end of June, they would clash with the UGC NET exams, which will be held from June 22 to June 30.