In a circular issued from the University of Madras' Registrar's office on Thursday, guidelines for admission and commencement of classes for the academic year 2020-21 were issued. According to the circular, affiliated colleges under the university should commence online classes for second and third year undergraduate degree courses and MCA courses and second year post-graduation programmes should begin from August 3, while online classes for the first year students should commence from August 19. Dr R Srinivasan, Registrar of the university, stated that the undergraduate admissions in all affiliated colleges should be completed by September 10.
The university has also considered how to maintain a record of attendance of the students attending the online classes. According to the circular, "The attendance list of students should be taken from the platform and filed in the respective departments of the college."
The circular mentions some specific guidelines about the online classes. "Teachers are instructed to conduct lecture sessions through online platforms," mentions the circular. It also states, "Teachers are also asked to upload video lectures." They have to upload the lectures after consulting with subject experts. Practical classes are also supposed to be conducted online, mentions the circular. To ensure that the online classes are conducted smoothly, the university has also asked administration of the affiliated colleges to provide information about their infrastructure that is supposed to be provided to the teachers to conduct the classes.
About examinations and assessment, the university states, "Continuous assessment, session tests should be conducted online and documented properly for marking afterwards."
How the university plans to conduct the online classes and what platform will they use to ensure equal participation of students is yet to be discovered. Edex attempted to reach the university officials but they were unavailable for comment.
