New Delhi: The universities and colleges have been warned by India’s higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC) of strict action if they do not offer full refunds to first-year students who are unable to join their courses due to financial crisis or any other reason after taking admission.
UGC secretary Rajnish Jain, in a letter to the vice-chancellors of all universities, said that the regulator had received several complaints and submissions claiming non-refund or partial refund by colleges or varsities, reported Hindustan Times.
It may be recalled that the UGC had specified zero cancellation charges for admissions till December 31 in its Guidelines on Academic Calendar for the First Year of Under Graduate and Post-Graduate students of the Universities for the Session 2020-21.
This came in view of parents and students’ financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To be crystal clear, the entire fees including all charges be refunded in totality (zero cancellation charges) on account of cancellation/ migration up to 31.12.2020. Thereafter, on cancellation/ withdrawal of admissions up to 31.12.2020, the entire fee collected from a student be refunded in full after deduction of not more than Rs1,000 as processing fee,” the letter from Jain said.
Having received several complaints that colleges and varsities were not following directives, the top UGC official expressed dismay.
“The Commission has been receiving several references in the form of RTI applications/ complaints/ public grievances/ court cases in respect of non refund of fee by the universities/ institutions in violation of the UGC Guidelines. The Commission has taken a very serious view of such complaints. Most of these complaints have come from the students who have taken admission in private or self financing universities and deemed to be universities and later opted out for one or the other reasons,” said Jain.
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