Fix the last date of undergraduate admissions after declaration of CBSE Class 12 results: UGC tells universities

On June 28, the CBSE had approached the UGC over universities starting admissions to undergraduate programmes without waiting for the announcement of its Class 12 results.

In its communication to the universities, the UGC has pointed out that CBSE students will be deprived of admisison if UG admissions end even before the board declares its results.

“It has come to the notice that some universities have started registration in UG courses for the season 2022-23. In this scenario, the students from CBSE will be deprived of admission in the undergraduate courses if the last date is fixed by the universities prior to CBSE result declaration,”  UGC secretary Rajnish Jain has written to the vice-chancellors of all universities.

The communication, also marked to principals of colleges and directors of other higher educational institutes, adds: “It is therefore requested that all the higher education institutions may fix the last date of their undergraduate admission process after declaration of result of class XII by CBSE so as to provide sufficient time to such students for admissions  in UG courses.”

The CBSE conducted two sets of board examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 students for the 2021-’22 academic year to “nullify the impact of COVID”, Jain added in the letter.

The first-term examination was held between November and December last year and the second-term in April. The final results will be based on students’ performances in both exams.

“The evaluation of term-II is going and on and process of result preparation will start. The final result will be declared by combining the weightage based on the performance of both the terms,” the UGC added in its letter.

UGC’s advisory to all universities comes after CBSE’s letter dated June 28. In the letter, the Board wrote, “It has come to the notice that some universities in India, especially in Maharashtra, have started registration in undergraduate courses for the session (2022-’23) and their last date is in the first week of July. It is, therefore, requested that all the universities may please be directed to fix the last date of their undergraduate admission process keeping in mind the date of result declaration of Class XII by CBSE.” The Board also said it required about a month to prepare the results.

The CBSE letter came in the wake of Mumbai University (MU) starting admissions to undergraduate programmes at degree colleges without waiting for the Indian School Certificate (ISC) exam, which is administered by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), and the CBSE Class 12 results. Most city colleges affiliated to MU declared their second merit list on Thursday. Students who have secured a seat are expected to confirm their admission by July 13 and a third merit list will be out on July 14.

When MU announced its admission schedule last month, it was anticipated that the CBSE and ISC results would be out by the time of the second merit list’s publication. However, with the results not out yet, students of CBSE and CISCE-affiliated schools are worried about missing out on seats in their desired courses in the colleges of their choice. Though MU has been criticised for putting a section of students at a disadvantage, the university has justified its move saying CBSE and ISC students make up a very small percentage of its intake. The university has also announced that the application window will be opened again after the CBSE and ICSE results are out.

MU has always begun its admission process after the announcement of the Maharashtra state Board results. Earlier, the state Board results used to be declared after CBSE and CISCE announced theirs. This allowed students from the two national boards to apply to MU colleges. Last year, the state Board results were declared on August 3, and on July 16 in 2020 — both after the CBSE and ISC results. But this year, the Maharashtra board results were announced before the results of the two national boards.