L J Ravi 29 August 2020: O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) announces the commencement of the new academic session 2020-21 for the first-year students on 1st September 2020 with a record number of new admissions. This is an unprecedented moment as the education sector has been severely disrupted by COVID-19 global pandemic. It has been JGU’s endeavour to ensure uninterrupted learning for its students who have joined the university during the pandemic. Earlier, JGU had already begun the new academic session for its existing students on 17th August 2020 and classes are underway in the online mode. JGU is committed to ensuring quality and continuity across all its academic programmes, while ensuring safety, security and well-being of all its students, faculty and staff. This year, JGU has launched several new undergraduate and post graduate programmes across its nine schools with options for pursuing Humanities fellowships to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Legal Studies, Environmental Studies, Design, Political Science, Economics and Social Policy. Salient Features of the 2020 JGU Admissions: Classes to commence for the new students on 1st September across all Schools and programmes in the University; Entrance exams conducted via AI-Enabled, Remote-Proctored by US-UK based testing organisations, LSAC & Pearson VUE; 9 Schools, 16 undergraduate and 9 postgraduate programmes to commence classes online; 2,500 new students join JGU in the new academic year with an overall 50% rise in admissions this year; Over 600 faculty members to teach online using latest tech platforms; Students from nearly all the states and union territories of India have joined JGU; International students from several countries including, Ireland, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America have taken admission to JGU this year. It is truly remarkable that over 2,500 students have joined JGU this year. These students have been admitted across the nine schools of JGU and its 25 Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The new students hail from nearly all the states and union territories of India. Many international students have joined from countries such as Ireland, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America. The students of JGU will be taught by over 600 full time faculty members, all of whom are now connected remotely to their students. JGU is committed to offering the best education and learning experience to its students and the new semester for the first year students will commence with fully online classes on 1st September to ensure the health, safety and well-being of the entire JGU community. Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, said, “We have been deeply concerned about the future of our students and the associated safety and health concerns during this COVID-19 global pandemic. These are extraordinary times when the world of higher education and universities have been challenged by the pandemic. I am delighted to share with you that the admissions process of all the schools of JGU were completed smoothly and successfully in an Online and Remote-Proctored entrance exam format. This has only proved that our early decision to go fully online, completely eliminating any face-to-face interaction in the entrance examination process, was the best and indeed the safest option. We were conscious of the inherent safety, security and well-being of the students, their family members and their concerns relating to health became paramount in our decision to implement the AI-Enabled, Remote-Proctored entrance exams. We began the new academic session for our existing students on 17th August and are commencing the classes for the new students on 1st September and look forward welcoming the best talent to our classrooms.” “The education system globally and especially in India has been severely disrupted since the beginning of March 2020. JGU took farsighted and unprecedented measures to ensure that our current students continued their classes, took their final examinations, and completed their academic year successfully. We deeply recognise that the levels of anxiety among the new students who are entering into a university this academic year is very high as it concerns their future. During these extraordinary difficult times, we adopted a conscious approach with concerted efforts of the faculty members and staff of JGU to ensure that the educational aspirations and career goals of the students are not affected due to the pandemic. This was based upon four principles that we had followed since the lockdown, when it comes to the academic imagination at our university; 1. Freedom; 2. Innovation; 3. Flexibility; 4. Adaptability. These four principles guided our teaching during the last semester, but also informed the admissions process that was successfully conducted in a completely online mode”, said Professor C. Raj Kumar. “The consequences of COVID-19 pandemic motivated the University to take extraordinary steps to move quickly and efficiently to make learning systems and technology efficient. Since the COVID-19 outbreak coincided with the end of the year Board Exams for prospective students, JGU was cognisant of the upcoming responsibility to ensure a flawless admission process for the new students. In such a scenario, not only did JGU make a significant investment in technological platforms for a seamless educational and learning experience for existing students, but also ensured that through established partnerships, we were able conduct new admissions in a secure, online manner. For the first time in the history of law admissions, LSAT—India, which was a paper-pencil test since its inception in 2009, became India’s first and only Law Entrance Exam to be conducted entirely online as an AI-Enabled Remote-Proctored entrance exam,” said Professor Arjya B. Majumdar, Dean of Admission and Outreach, JGU. “Simultaneously in an unprecedented technological development, admissions to all degree programmes (UG & PG) across all the schools of JGU were conducted online under the aegis of the Jindal Scholastic Aptitude Test (JSAT) administered by Pearson VUE. Candidates from India and around the world took the entrance exams from the safety of their homes without worrying about their health and it was the first time in more than 25 years of the existence of Pearson’s Virtual University Enterprises (VUE) that an Artificial Intelligence-Enabled, Home-Proctored online solution was made available in this format”, said Professor Arjya B. Majumdar. “We welcome the new students of JGU who will begin classes online on 1st September. We would like to ensure that our commitment to providing world class education to our students is unwavering. A series of commencement lectures by distinguished scholars, thinkers and practitioners will be held in the first week of classes to enthuse and inspire our new students. When the new academic session officially opens on 1 September 2020, we can assure our students that JGU remains committed to offering global and integrated learning opportunities towards fulfilling their goals and aspirations”, said Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, Registrar, JGU.
