Goa University has withdrawn admissions to nine newly introduced five-year integrated programmes after the State government raised serious objections over the manner in which the courses were introduced and following the intervention of Governor and Chancellor Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
The rollback comes a day before Vice-Chancellor Harilal Menon was scheduled to meet the Governor after being summoned to explain the controversy surrounding the launch of the programmes.
In a notification issued on Thursday, Goa University Registrar S N Dhuri confirmed that the admission process for the new courses had been withdrawn for the academic year 2026-27.
“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 said the admission process, which began on April 29, had received only seven applications till date. Each programme reportedly reserved 35 seats for non-Goan students and 15 seats for local students, a ratio that drew criticism from the government.
The State government had earlier termed the university’s move as “unethical”, “illegal” and “irregular”, alleging that the programmes were introduced without obtaining mandatory approvals from the government, the Chancellor and the university’s Executive Council.
Concerns were also raised by the forum of non-government colleges, which reportedly approached the Chancellor over the issue.
The Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) had twice warned the university against proceeding with the programmes through communications issued in November 2025 and February 2026. Despite those warnings, the university issued a notification on April 28 under Ordinance 39A.
Officials pointed out that the ordinance had neither received approval from the Chancellor nor ratification from the Executive Council. The matter is also yet to be discussed before the Executive Council meeting scheduled for May 29.
The DHE further objected to the academic process adopted for the new programmes, stating that the syllabi were prepared without constituting mandatory Boards of Studies (BoS), raising questions about the statutory and academic validity of the courses.
The seat allocation pattern also came under scrutiny, with the government questioning why a larger number of seats were earmarked for non-Goan students than for local candidates.
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 maintained that no new academic programme could be launched without prior government approval and warned that unilateral decisions by the university could impose significant direct and indirect financial burdens on the State.
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