Kashmir University (KU) administration on Wednesday decided to promote the students on basis of the internal assessment in view of the ongoing COVID19 lockdown.
The decision was taken in a high level meeting chaired by KU Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Talat Ahmad.
“There will be no end term exams for the current semester and the previous semesters for which exams were to be held during the lockdown period. The students will be promoted to the next semester based on internal assessment as per the UGC guidelines,” said Registrar KU, Nisar Ahmad Mir.
He said heads of the departments in consultation with their respective departmental committees will decide the mode of internal assessment with a transparent and well-defined scale.
The KU had earlier constituted an advisory committee to assess and monitor the conduct of online classes, devise road map for holding examinations, academic calendar under the prevalent conditions and formulate a plan for admission to various courses for 2020.
“The varsity decided to continue the online classes till August 15. The teachers have been asked to take online classes on regular basis and also carry the internal assessment during the semester in tune with the strategy devised by their respective departments,” read the minutes of the meeting, adding the teachers will keep record of the classes as well as of the internal assessment.
An official said the decision taken in the meeting applies for all the students pursuing postgraduate courses in the University and some of the undergraduate courses like BBA, BCA and integrated law degree.
“For other undergraduate courses like BA, BSc and B.Com, the Vice Chancellor asked the controller examination and Dean College Development council to take one representative from Higher Education Department to take a decision on mode of exams,” the official said.
He said controller examinations and dean college development council along with one representative from Higher Education will hold a meeting and take a call on the issue.
“The decision about the mode of examination for college students will be taken in consultation with the Principals of the colleges and controller examination will make recommendations for the same,” he said.
The varsity has also constituted a committee headed by Dean Researches which will take a decision regarding conduct of practical classes and opening of laboratories for research scholars.
The Vice Chancellor has also advised the departments to procure smart phones and note pads for needy students who cannot afford these gadgets. “These devices can be distributed among the needy students and collected back afterwards,” read the minutes.
The VC has also asked the advisory cum monitoring committee to contact all the class representative, HoDs and faculty members to keep them informed about the decisions taken by the University.
“We should take their feedback so that there is no confusion in the decision taken by the varsity. All stakeholders should be informed properly,” the VC has said.
During the meeting, the VC also asked the teachers to make optimum use of available communication technology for teaching and learning process.
“By this we can turn the pandemic situation to our advantage by developing capacity for online teaching-learning and assessment for the better future of our University and students,” the VC said.
He said the varsity should not lag behind online mode of education and the motto should be to meet the deadlines and ensure degrees were awarded in time.
“We need to follow the examples of the best institutions of the country like IIT-Kanpur,” he said.
The VC also directed the Director ITSS to arrange special orientation programmes for teachers who were not yet to get knowhow of the latest technology.
“A department or faculty wise timetable of training programmes should be notified and teachers from various departments shall be invited to attend the training. Proper tutorials should be placed on the University website for self-learning,” he said.
The VC said the study materials, lectures and power point presentations should be promptly uploaded on the varsity website for the students who miss the online classes.
“We must take advantage of MOOCs on SWAYAM and other reliable educational portals,” he said.
He said the EMRC has developed Digital Learning Corner (DLC) that lists all MHRD funded educational repositories and departments should also identify relevant courses on SWAYAM and encourage students to take up 20 percent of such courses for award of credits.