New Delhi: Failing internal assessments will now cost Jamia Millia Islamia students an entire academic year, with the university making it compulsory for students to clear the internals if they are to sit for the end-semester exams.Jamia’s Executive Council has made sweeping changes in the examination system, including extending the sciences’ 40:60 evaluation model — 40% internal assessment and 60% final exam — to all undergraduate and postgraduate courses across streams from 2025-26.According to an official notification, the changes have been introduced for students enrolled in the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme and postgraduate programmes in line with the NEP, 2020.Under the revised rules, students must score at least 40% in both internal assessment and final exams separately. The duration of theory exams has been cut from three hours to two, while lab courses will retain the 50:50 split but with the same 40% pass rule.Programmes under statutory bodies like All India Council for Technical Education, Council of Architecture, Dental Council of India, National Council for Teacher Education and Bar Council of India remain exempt from these rules.The notification states that the new system of examination and evaluation will be applicable to all the UG programmes (Four Year UG Programme under NEP-2020) and PG programmes being run by the university except those programmes that are run as per the guidelines of the regulatory councils.This marks a significant departure from the existing system where several courses, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, relied primarily on end-semester exams. Now, students in these streams will also be subject to continuous evaluation through assignments, tests, projects, presentations and class participation, as outlined in the internal assessment framework.The notification adds that students must pass both components of evaluation separately, failing which they will be declared as failed in the course irrespective of their aggregate score. “The minimum passing mark will be 40% in each of the components separately. Students who fail in internal assessment will not be allowed to sit for the final exam of the course. The student will have to reappear in the internal assessment and university exam of that course the following year,” it read.Another change approved by the Executive Council is the reduction in the duration of theory examinations. “The duration of the end-semester examination in theory papers shall be two hours instead of the existing three hours. The question paper shall also be prepared accordingly,” the notification stated.For laboratory-based courses, the existing 50:50 model of evaluation will continue, but here too the minimum pass mark has been fixed at 40% in each component separately.Earlier, non-sciences programmes followed an evaluation model of 25:75 with the major weightage on end term examination.Jamia’s Executive Council approved these changes in May, following which the university amended the ordinances on examinations and evaluation.
