First and second-year undergraduate students and first-year master’s students from the general stream may not need to take any exams this summer if their universities follow guidelines issued by the higher education regulator on Wednesday.

Final-year students —third-year undergraduate and second-year postgraduate students — will take their degree exams between July 1 and 15, according to the University Grants Commission guidelines, issued with the approval of HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

It has been left to the universities to decide the mode of the exams — online or pen-and-paper. The results will be declared in August.

The schedule is likely to push the next academic session back by two months. Sources said the 2020-21 session may start from August 1 for old students and from September 1 for new students.

According to the guidelines — non-binding but generally followed by the universities — intermediate-semester students will be graded on the basis of internal assessments for the current and previous semester.

But in the states where the Covid-19 situation has “normalised”, exams can be held for these non-final-year students between July 16 and 31, the commission said without naming the states.

It said the internal assessments for the intermediate-semester students would be based on assignments, mid-term exams and projects conducted by the students.

If the universities want, they may also give some weight to these students’ scores in their previous semester exams.

Final-year students whose curricula require them to submit dissertations may be assigned secondary data-based or software-driven projects instead of laboratory experiments or field survey-based assignments. The dissertations must be handed in by June 15.

Their practical exams and viva voce tests may be held via videoconferencing apps such as Skype. Practical and oral tests for students of the intermediate semesters may be conducted during the next semester.

Viva voce exams for PhD and MPhil students many be held through videoconferencing while giving them an extra six months to submit their theses.

Under the guidelines, every university should set up a cell to handle student grievances, relating to exams and other academic activities, arising during the Covid-19 pandemic.

If first and second-year undergrad student wish to improve their grades, they may take special exams in chosen subjects during the next semester.

Some teachers highlighted the challenges of implementing the guidelines. Delhi University, for example, has not done any internal assessments this semester yet.

“In DU, internal assessment has been done only for the first semester (of the academic session). If DU follows the UGC guidelines, the students will be graded on the basis of internal assessments for the first semester of 2019-20,” varsity executive council member Rajesh Jha said.

To make up for lost time, there will be no winter vacation in 2020-21.

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