Tricky road to college admission? Students await final decisions

With the Class 12 board exams across the country getting cancelled due to the pandemic, colleges and unversities are now brainstorming to come up with admission criteria for students in undergraduate courses. Here's what we know of some universities so far:

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Across the country, central and state boards have decided to cancel Class 12 board exams keeping the students safety' in mind amid the pandemic. Yesterday, the Supreme Court approved the marking scheme of CBSE and CISCE. While this has definitely brought students some clarity, doubts and questions remain as to what the next step should be - how to go about the college admissions. 

Here are some of the country's top universities and what we know about their admission process so far:

Delhi University

DU is likely to start the registration process for admissions by July 15, according to media reports. On CBSE and CISCE's marking scheme, Rajeev Gupta, dean of admissions at Delhi University, told the Times of India, “The assessment policy will not affect our admissions because it seems that the Class XII results will be determined in percentage and we use percentages for deciding the admission cutoffs.” 
However it's not clear yet if the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUET) will be held this year. The university had earlier proposed 50% weightage to CUCET and 50% to Class 12 marks. But in the current scenario, it seems that the university might just go for merit-based admission.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

Students getting admitted to JNU for undergraduate and postgraduate courses have to appear for the JNU Entrance Exam (JNUEE). NU VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar had earlier told ANI, "We will conduct the JNU entrance examination whenever it is safe for students to write. If entrance is delayed due to COVID and if admission happens at a later date, we'll surely adjust our academic calendar to take care of lost time without compromising academic rigor."
Going by media reports, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to begin the registration process for JNUEE 2021 sometime in June. Candidates appearing for the entrance examination will have to fill the application form before the last date of submission.

Anna University

The Anna University admissions to all the programmes usually begin in August every year. Either entrance exams or merit-based markings are considered for admission to different programmes. For BE/BTech courses, students have to appear for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) conducted by the Directorate of Technical Education, Tamil Nadu. The registration process and exam dates for TNEA 2021 are yet to be announced. For MBA, MArch, MPlan and MCA, candidates have to appear for TANCET 2021. The exam was conducted in March 2021 before the COVID-19 second wave. But the counselling process for TANCET 2021 is yet to begin.

Mumbai University

Maharashtra University is yet to share how it will enroll students. The Maharashtra education department on June 3 announced its decision to scrap the Class 12 state board or Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams for the 2020-21 academic year. The colleges affiliated to the university are still planning the course of action.

IP University

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has released the application form for admission to the 2021-22 academic session. To register online, students can visit ipu.admissions.nic.in and ipu.ac.in. The last date of registration is July 15. Apart from undergraduate courses, admissions are open for PhD, MPhil courses for both Indian and international students.

Jadavpur University

Jadavpur University offers several undergraduate programmes in the field of engineering, pharmacy, architecture, science, arts, commerce, among various others. Apart from BE and BTech, it also offers BPEd, BArch, B.Lib.I.Sc, BSc, BA and BPharma at UG level. Students have to clear WBJEE to pursue BTech and BE courses while entrance exams are held for BA courses. But amid the pandemic, merit-based admission is likely. A decision on WBJEE 2021 is still awaited.