CUET UG 2024: Amid admission delays, JNU, DU plan weekend classes, short winter break

Universities in the national capital, including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Delhi University (DU), plan to hold weekend classes and have a shorter winter break in view of delayed admissions due to the uncertainty surrounding the declaration of Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) results.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), the body that conducts the entrance exam, announced on July 14 a re-test for over 1,000 CUET UG candidates on July 19, following complaints from candidates, including issues of time loss due to the distribution of the wrong question paper.

The agency, however, has not clarified on the declaration of result, which was originally scheduled to be released on June 30, and has now been delayed by over two weeks. The final answer key for the undergraduate admission test has not been notified yet.

A senior JNU official said the delay in the declaration of results will impact the university's plan to release a unified academic calendar for all the batches of students.

The university will have to rely on extra classes on Saturdays and may have to shorten its winter break to cover up for lost time to complete the syllabus, the official said.

"Instead of five days a week, we may have to teach six days a week and use Saturdays to cover up the syllabus. We will also consider shortening the winter break if need be,” the official added.

"JNU had planned to release a unified academic calendar for all the batches from this year onwards to bring symmetry to the admissions process. The practice was discontinued due to the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Things will become clear once the result dates are announced," the official said.

Ambedkar University also plans on taking extra classes in the evening and weekends and having fewer holidays to cover up for the delay if required, Vice Chancellor Anu Singh Lather said.

"There would be a delay of about two weeks or so due to the re-test. I don't think that is much of a time and can easily be compensated with some extra classes,” he added.

"Originally, the session was supposed to start on August 1 for first-year students, but if the results are not announced in the next two weeks, we will hold extra classes for them in the evening after regular classes on weekends and also reduce the number of holidays to cover up," Lather said.

Classes for the rest of the students will start as per the scheduled date, she said.

At Delhi University, officials said the delay would cause the academic calendar of first-year students to end at a later date than scheduled.

The schedule for the rest of the students will remain as usual, with their classes scheduled to begin on August 1, DU's registrar, Vikas Gupta, said.

Earlier last week, DU notified its academic calendar for second-year students of a shortened winter break of four days. The varsity did not mention the reason behind the shorter winter break.

Meanwhile, an official at Indraprastha University (IP University) said the delay wouldn't affect its admission process as it takes admissions through CUET in its last leg and hopes the results will be out by then.

Mahesh Verma, Vice Chancellor of IP University, said, “We take admissions through a national entrance test for professional courses. We also have our own in-house entrance examination. After admissions through these mediums are completed, we fill the remaining seats through CUET. By that time, the CUET scores would be out, so our admissions wouldn't be affected.”

There was no immediate response on this from Jamia Millia Islamia, which also takes UG admissions through CUET for some of its courses.

While DU and Ambedkar University rely fully on CUET scores to take admissions into their undergraduate and postgraduate courses, universities like JNU, Jamia, and IP University either accept the scores for selected courses or have their own entrance system.

(PTI)