PANAJI
The Goa University has withdrawn admissions to nine newly introduced five-year integrated programmes after the State government raised serious objections over the courses being launched without mandatory approvals and following the intervention of Governor and Chancellor Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
The decision comes just a day before Vice-Chancellor Harilal Menon was set to meet the Governor after being summoned over the controversial issue seeking clarification from the university administration.
In a notification issued on Thursday, Goa University Registrar S N Dhuri announced the rollback of the admission process.
“With reference to the above-mentioned Notification, the Goa University has decided to withdraw the Notification for admissions to the newly introduced Nine Integrated Programmes mentioned in the above referred Notification for the Academic Year 2026-27,” the notification stated.
Sources confirmed that the admission process, which had commenced on April 29, so far received only seven entries. Total 35 seats for each programme were reserved for non-Goan students and another 15 for local candidates.
The State government had earlier termed the university’s decision to introduce the integrated programmes as “unethical”, “illegal” and “irregular”, alleging that the courses were rolled out without obtaining mandatory approvals from the government, the Chancellor and the university’s Executive Council.
The forum of non government colleges too had raised concern over the programmes before the Chancellor.
The Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) had twice cautioned the university against introducing the courses through communications issued in November 2025 and February 2026. Despite the warnings, the university issued a notification on April 28 under Ordinance 39A, which officials pointed out had neither been approved by the Chancellor nor ratified by the Executive Council. The ordinance is also yet to come up for deliberation before the Executive Council meeting scheduled on May 29.
According to the DHE, the syllabi for the nine integrated programmes were prepared without constituting mandatory Boards of Studies (BoS), raising questions over the academic and statutory validity of the programmes.
The admission structure also came under scrutiny, with the government objecting to the allocation of 35 seats for non-Goan students in each programme, while only 15 seats were reserved for local students.
The integrated programmes, introduced under the framework of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, covered disciplines including sciences, social sciences, management, media and public policy. Admissions were proposed on the basis of merit derived from Class XII marks.
The DHE also argued that no new programme can be introduced without prior government approval and warned that unilateral decisions by the university could impose significant direct and indirect financial burdens on the State.
