PANAJI
In a progressive move aimed at promoting academic inclusivity and aligning with evolving student mobility trends, Goa University has revised its long-standing policy of capping admissions for candidates from other universities in its Postgraduate (PG) programmes by restricting the number of other universities candidates to two per programme.
As per the statement issued, the varsity has decided to maintain the status quo for the current round of admission following earlier policy of admitting a maximum of two other universities candidates per PG programme.
“For decades, the University had reserved 10 per cent of seats, with a maximum cap of 2 seats per PG programme, for other universities candidates. This limit was introduced when most PG programmes had an intake capacity of 15 to 30 students. However, seat strength has substantially increased over the past two to three decades due to growing demand, particularly following the implementation of the EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) reservation in 2020-21, which led to a 30% rise in seats across programmes,” the GU said.
For instance, the M.Sc. Chemistry programme, which had an intake of 30 seats in the 1990s, now accommodates 100 students. Yet, the other universities reservation remained at just 2 seats — effectively reducing other universities category to only 2 per cent.
Other universities category includes Goan students who pursued their undergraduate education at other institutions across India or abroad and now wish to return to Goa for higher education. This adjustment enhances their opportunity for admission while maintaining the integrity of the overall reservation framework.
“Furthermore, vacant other universities category seats are converted to unreserved seats in the first round of admission, ensuring immediate availability to Goan students. The revision does not affect any existing reservation categories, including SC, ST, OBC, EWS, or PwD, and continues to uphold the State government's reservation policy,” it said.
