The State government has decided to bring uniformity in the Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) semester examinations and is planning to conduct semester examinations in all universities across the State at the same time. The main objective of this reform is to facilitate students in taking competitive exams related to employment and higher education.
M.C. Sudhakar, Minister for Higher and Technical Education, has instructed the Karnataka State Higher Education Council to conduct a comprehensive study and submit a report in this regard.
Why this reform?
Universities across the State conduct semester examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate students over a 90-day schedule. However, there is no uniformity in the examination system. Each university has its own academic schedule with its annual term, student enrolment, semester examination, and declaration of the result.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a massive disruption in the academic schedule of all the universities. There is a lot of delay in the commencement of classes, conducting examination, and result announcement, leading to problems for students, especially those who wish to take up competitive exams such as the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Banking, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), Indian Railways, Police services, as well as the entrance exams for higher education.
When the academic exams and recruitment exams are scheduled at the same time, students inevitably have to miss one of the exams.
Speaking to The Hindu, Dr. Sudhakar said, “Universities conducting semester exams with their own schedule affects the students who will take other competitive examinations. After COVID-19, there has been a huge delay and chaos in university admissions, commencement of colleges, examinations, and announcement of results. Therefore, we decided to bring uniformity in the academic schedule and semester exams for the UG and PG courses.”
He however added that the reform is not a one-day or one-month exercise. “It will take at least two or three years to implement it. There are many confusions, including the commencement of academic activities, academic year, and appointment of guest lecturers. I have instructed the Karnataka State Higher Education Council to thoroughly study all the matters, including the examination system of all the universities in the State, the examination conducted by the government agencies for various recruitments, the examination conducted at the national level and submit a report. On the basis of this report, uniformity will be implemented in the semester examinations and it will be applicable to all the universities,” he said.
