The restrictions and closure of schools and colleges has resulted in a disarray in carefully planned academic schedules, and final year students are worried about what they should do next. Many undergraduate students who were looking forward to receiving admit cards from universities and colleges abroad are still waiting in anticipation.
While the academic year begins in August or September, students normally receive their acceptance letters by March. While some of the colleges have written to the students asking them to expect a delay of six to eight weeks, many colleges that are closed have not responded to queries from students.
A final year engineering student of a city-based engineering college, who is hoping to get into one of the top colleges in the U.S. to pursue his masters, said that this delay would have a cascading effect on their academic careers. “Many of us who haven’t received our admits are worried. Besides this, they have stopped issuing U.S. visas and we don’t know how long this situation will prevail,” he said.
Students are also uncertain over whether the examination schedule will be delayed as classes are not over and have come to a standstill. As per the current calendar, the exam season is expected to be completed by May or June but that may not happen if the COVID-19 pandemic does not abate. “If colleges are unable to stick to their schedule, then we will not be able to get admission for masters abroad as we are supposed to get the results latest by the end of July,” said another final year engineering student.
A B. A. student said she had written to a college in New Zealand where she had got an offer and asked them for a deferral for the third trimester, but was informed that the option was not available. “The course in New Zealand starts in July and our examinations keep getting postponed. I might have to wait for the next academic year to pursue my masters,” she said.
However, Karisiddappa, Vice-Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), said that as it was a global pandemic, schedules would be disturbed but there was no need for students to worry. “After April 21, we will have a meeting and our top priority will be to fix the problems that our final year students are facing. Right now, we have asked colleges to keep students engaged academically. Many colleges that are conducting online classes are seeing attendance over 90%,” he said.
