Coronavirus Impact: UGC Asks Universities to Set Up Grievance Cell for Students
UGC has issued a circular to all the universities and has asked them to form a grievance cell to help students deal with the academic and exam-related grievances amid the coronavirus crisis.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all the universities to set up a special cell to deal with the students' academic and exam-related grievances amid the coronavirus outbreak in the nation. UGC has issued an official notice which states that it has directed the universities to form a cell to handle students' issues related to the exams and other academic activities which students might be facing due to COVID-19. This will help in timely redressal of grievances and also a decrease in the number of student complaints. The UGC has also asked the universities to play an active role in publicising the redressal on a wider platform so that there are no chances of communication gap between the college and the students.
The deadline to form the grievance cell is May 30, 2020. UGC has also directed the colleges to have a dedicated email and helpline for addressing students' complaints. UGC noticed that most of the issues students had pertain to the academic calendar, exam mode, exam dates, collection of the non-refundable fee, back papers etc which require immediate attention. Majority of the students have issues with fee collection by the colleges and also have concerns regarding the exam dates as they have already gone back to their native places.
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To help the students, teachers and the institutes, and also to monitor their grievances and queries, the UGC has launched a dedicated helpline number - 011-23236374. Students can register their issues/grievances on the existing 'Online Students Grievance Redressal Portal' of UGC on the official website (/www.ugc.ac,in/grievance/student aspx). UGC has also formed a task force to deal with some of the major concerns of the teachers, institutes and students. Students can also check the UGC official helpline notification below.
UGC has also asked the colleges and universities to upload a copy of the public notification from the UGC on their official websites and share the same with the teachers and students through email. Earlier, UGC had released guidelines regarding the exams and the academic calendar. It also mentioned that all the academic activities should be planned by the colleges/universities keeping in mind the interest and safety of all the stakeholders. It also stated that the university exams will commence in July 2020 and admissions will take place from August 2020. The classes for the current batch of students will resume from August 1, 2020, while for the new students, the classes will begin from September 1, 2020.