Set UG admission deadline after CBSE announces class 12 results: UGC to universities

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission has asked universities to fix their deadline for admission to undergraduate courses after CBSE declares its class 12 exam results, UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said on Wednesday.

Noting that some universities have started their admission process even though the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was yet to declare the class 12 results, Kumar said this will lead to the board's students being deprived of a seat in these institutes.

"The UGC has requested all higher educational institutes to fix the last date of their undergraduate admission process after declaration of Class 12 result by CBSE so that students get sufficient time for admission to undergraduate courses," he said.

The move comes after the CBSE last week reached out to the commission requesting it to ask universities to fix their admission schedule in accordance with their results.

"It has come to notice that some universities have started registration in undergraduate courses for the session 2022-23.

"In this scenario, the students of CBSE will be deprived of admission if the last date is fixed by the universities prior to CBSE results declaration," the UGC said in a letter to vice chancellors.

It is, therefore, requested that all higher education institutions fix the last date of admission to undergraduate courses after the declaration of CBSE results to provide sufficient time to such candidates, it added.

The CBSE is likely to declare the board exam results by month-end. The exam was delayed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UGC chief had in March announced that Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores, and not Class 12 marks, would be mandatory for admission to 45 central universities.

The central universities can fix their minimum eligibility criteria, he had said.

Jagadesh Kumar had clarified that students from state boards will not be at a disadvantage under the new system and the exam will not give a push to the coaching culture.

A total of 44 central universities, 12 state universities, 11 deemed universities, and 19 private universities have applied to participate in the first edition of CUET for UG admissions in the 2022-23 academic session.

Kumar said while Central universities will not conduct admissions based on class 12 scores, going ahead with admissions prior to declaration of board results will not give a "level playing field" to students from CBSE and state boards.

"The central universities will be admitting students through CUET but there are several other universities who have started admissions and they are using class 12 board scores as criteria for UG admissions.

“The idea behind CUET was to provide level playing field to students from all boards and that should be the case for UG admissions overall," Kumar told PTI.