The university Grands Commission (UGC) has asked colleges to refund full fees to applicants for cancelling admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses or seeking migration to other colleges for the academic session 2020-21. To aid parents of students facing financial hardship due to the pandemic situation, a full refund will be done to their accounts, on withdrawal up to November 30 for this academic session as a ‘special case’, the guidelines of the central regulatory body states. There will be no deduction like cancellation charges on the refund amount.
For withdrawals done before December 31, the varsities can deduct maximum Rs 1,000 as processing fee and refund the rest of the amount.
The move was taken after students complained of losing their money to cancelled admissions at private and self-financing institutes. The commission has asked varsities to follow the guidelines mandatorily. Any institute who gives their own interpretation of the guidelines and refuse to refund the amount will have to face punitive actions taken against them as notified in ‘clause 5 of UGC notification refund of fees and non-retention of original certificate issues in October 2008’, the guidelines further said.
The guidelines for cancelled admissions until November 30 was first tweeted by the Ministry of Education in September while unveiling the commission’s academic calendar.
The UGC new calendar mandated that all admissions should be completed by September 30 and the fresh batch must commence on October 1. Institutes will award a semester break from March 27, 2021 to April 04, 2021. For ‘even semester’ i.e semester 2,4, 6 and 8, classes will commence from April 5 with a preparation break in August first week and examinations being held till August 21. The next academic session for this batch will start on August 30, 2021.
Earlier in April, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) ruled that stand-alone institutes cannot force students to pay fees until the lockdown is lifted and normalcy restored. Accordingly, institutes affiliated to AICTE have to display the guidelines on their official website or communicate with the students via email.