All Tamil Nadu college students to be promoted without exam except those in final year, says E Palaniswami

Students in Tamil Nadu colleges will be promoted to the next year without having to take up even semester exams for 2019-2020 academic year, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has announced on Thursday. However, the announcement does not include final year students.According to a report in NDTV, students will be promoted to the next year or semester directly. They will be given marks as per academic guidelines that were recently released by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).The report adds that UGC has asked universities to conduct final year or final semester exams as performance in examinations contribute to "merit, lifelong credibility, wider global acceptability for admissions, scholarships, awards, placements, and better future prospects."A report by The New Indian Express states that details as to when the exams for final year students will be conducted are still awaited.As per the report, the state government had constituted a high-level meeting to come to a decision regarding the exams.Following the meeting exams for first and second year undergraduate and first year postgraduate students studying in arts and science colleges, first, second and third year undergraduate and first year postgraduate students studying in engineering colleges and first year MCA students have been cancelled.The report adds that colleges may be asked to use internal assessments to evaluate students in place of the cancelled semester exam.