UGC for uniform calendar

If that happens, students won't have to worry about losing out on colleges of their choice, writes Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: May 31, 2006, 15:53:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The UGC is working on a uniform, national calendar for all universities. If that happens, students won't have to worry about losing out on colleges and courses of their choice.

At present, universities set their own schedule for the admission process. Admissions to several universities close before the results of some others are declared.

This, say UGC officials, limits the choice of students. For instance, Delhi University closes admissions to post-graduate courses much before universities like Himachal or Patna University declare their results.

To set that right, the commission has proposed a uniform academic year for central universities. "The calendar will fix dates for opening and closing of universities and for holding examinations and declaring results.

This will help students to plan their admissions," a senior UGC official told the Hindustan Times.

Officials say it will be a flexible calendar with options for universities, while making sure that the dates for examinations, results and admissions aren't disturbed.

"We have tried to keep in mind the varying climatic conditions and holidays on the account of lo cal festivals in different parts of the country," an official said.

The UGC has circulated a draft proposal to universities. The response has been good, officials say, with 16 of 18 universities in favour of a uniform academic calendar. But that's all the UGC can do -- it can't impose the calendar because central universities have academic autonomy.

The commission is non-committal on whether the uniform calendar will be applicable from 2006-07.

To college, together UGC proposes A common schedule for holding examinations and publishing results for all universities At present Universities follow their individual calendars in deciding the commencement of their academic sessions Students benefit The new will calendar will ensure that students migrating from one university to another does not lose any year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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