Gurugram University to hold exams for final year students in July-August
The Gurugram University (GU) administration on Monday said physical examination for final year postgraduate students will be conducted in the second week of July or the first week of August.
The university administration said it will also organise a 15-day crash course for students right before the exams . The exams will be held in batches of 30-40, they said.
The university has been conducting online classes for the students amid the lockdown. The administration said nearly 80% of students have attended classes online, however, around 20% of students were not able to attend them either because of poor internet or due to no access to smartphones or laptops. Dr Markanday Ahuja, vice-chancellor of the university, said, “We know that there are a few students who were not able to attend e-classes. For such students, we will be conducting classes at Rao Tula Ram Model College for 15 days right before the exams.”
Students said the 15-day crash course will benefit them. “We have been told that a committee has been set up and that a core group of teachers will decide how our examinations will be conducted. When the lockdown was enforced and our college was closed, our syllabus was not completed. The university held online classes, but not everyone has internet access. So, these 15 days crash course will be beneficial for us,” said Lakshi Bhardwaj, final year student, , MA English.
GU teachers they will come out with a small summary of the entire syllabus and clear all doubts of students during the crash course. Dr Suchitra Vashisth, professor in the English department, GU, said, “We have already covered the syllabus through the online classes. So, we are going to focus on the important points and clear the doubts of students. We are also going to make a short summary of the entire syllabus. I believe that online classes can never replace physical classes.”
First-year and second-year students, the university officials said, might have to take their exams in December. They added the duration of the exams might be reduced and the number of questions may be cut down. “We can conduct a physical examination for the entire university in shifts. We will have to make a few adjustments: change the exam duration, reduce the number of questions, and so on. Most of the question papers are already prepared, but if the current situation worsens, then most probably we will take the exams for first and second-year students in December,” said Ahuja.
The VC has also said whenever the new session starts all vacations will be cut short to accommodate the classes which have been lost to the lockdown. “In the upcoming session, which will start once the lockdown is over, we will cut short the vacations. We have two months of vacation apart from the 15-day Dussehra break and a 15-day winter vacation every year. Adjustments in this 90-day period will be made in the upcoming session ” added Ahuja.
The administration also said despite all the restraints, GU will add two new courses this year — Masters in Physiotherapy and Masters in Pharmaceutical Science. “The government has also asked us to curtail expenditure as far new initiatives are concerned. These two courses won’t cost us much because we will be adding them to the existing departments and we have the infrastructure available already,” added Ahuja.
However, the university doesn’t plan to add any new seats and the administration expects the admission process is to go on till October.