EXPLAINED: How and which Indian universities can admit students twice in a year

To be sure, offering biannual admissions is not mandatory for the HEIs.

The University Grants Commission or UGC Regulations currently allow Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to admit students in one academic session in a year starting in July/August. An 'Academic session' is twelve months, beginning in July/August. Indian HEIs, therefore, follow the academic session that begins in July-August and ends in May-June.

Now, UGC has decided, in its 571st commission held on July 25, 2023, to permit biannual admissions under Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online modes in January and July during an academic year.

After UGC has permitted two cycle admissions in a year for ODL and Online modes,  as per the information furnished by the HEIs on the UGC DEB portal, in addition to a total of 19,73,056 students were enrolled in July 2022 and an additional 4,28,854 students joined in January 2023 in ODL and online programs.

“These numbers show that permitting a second academic session in a year has helped nearly half a million students join their degree programmes without waiting for one full academic year,” the UGC said.

Considering the “tremendous response and interest” from the students in ODL and online programs in biannual admissions, in its meeting held on May 15, 2024, UGC took a policy decision to allow HEIs who offer programs in regular mode to admit students twice in a year, either in January/February or July/August from the coming academic year.

With this decision by UGC, HEIs offering programs either in online/ODL mode or regular physical mode will be able to admit students twice in a year.

Which institutes can offer?

Those HEIs that have the required infrastructure and teaching faculty can utilise the opportunity to admit students biannually.

To be sure, offering biannual admissions is not mandatory for the HEIs; it is the flexibility that UGC provides to the HEIs who want to increase their student intake and offer new programmes in emerging areas.

To be able to admit students twice a year, HEIs must make suitable amendments to their institutional regulations, UGC said.

"If Indian universities can offer admission twice a year, it will benefit many students. Such as those who missed admission to a university in the July/August session due to a delay in the announcement of board results, health issues, or personal reasons. Biannual university admissions will help students maintain motivation since they do not have to wait one full year to be admitted if they miss admission in the current cycle,” said M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of UGC.

With biannual admissions in place, Kumar added that industries can also do their campus recruitment twice a year, improving employment opportunities for the graduates.

He also said that biannual admissions will also enable the HEIs to plan their resource distribution, such as faculty, labs, classrooms and support services, more efficiently, resulting in a better functional flow within the university.

“Universities worldwide already follow a biannual admission system. If Indian HEIs adopt the biannual admission cycle, our HEIs can enhance their international collaborations and student exchanges. As a result, our global competitiveness will improve, and we will align with the global educational standards,” Kumar said.