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Exam reforms: UGC sets up panel, invites suggestions
In a notice issued on Thursday, UGC has called for specific suggestions in 150 words to be sent to it by June 22 for the panel to consider them
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The University Grants Commission (UGC) is looking at ways to further improve the examination system followed by higher education institutions across the country.
It has set up a dedicated panel for the mission and has invited suggestions from all stakeholders, including varsity and college teachers, officials as well as students in this regard, said Prof Harsh Kumar, dean students’ welfare (DSW) and PRO of Allahabad University (AU).
In a notice issued on Thursday, UGC has called for specific suggestions in 150 words to be sent to it by June 22 for the panel to consider them, he added.
Prof Kumar said a detailed format for sending in the suggestions had also been made available by the commission for this purpose. “Suggestions are to be sent on various aspects of the examination system, including moderation procedure, grading and credit system, objectives of exams, evaluation etc followed by the universities and colleges of the country at present,” he said.
Welcoming the move, head of medieval and modern history department of AU with four decades of teaching under his belt Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari said annual examination with emphasis on external written examination needed changes.
“We can make a beginning by ensuring semester system at all levels, which is yet to get implemented in all varsities despite UGC’s stress on it. Similarly, we need to gradually move to a system which emphasizes on continuous internal assessment and reduces the written examination component to a reasonable level. Duration of semester, number of contact hour per paper, per semester and relative weightage of continuous assessment and semester-end needs to be prescribed unambiguously,” he added.
“We also need to gradually move away from marks and division system in evaluation and need to embrace grading system, preferably on a 9-point scale and cumulative grade point score (CGPS), in order to make our evaluation at par with the best practices, he said.
