Goa University cuts quota cap for students of other universities

Panaji: Goa University has revised a decades-old policy to remove the 2-seat capping on seats reserved for students from other universities per postgraduate programme.
Now 10% seats will be available to students of other universities in every programme, without a cap.
This has been done to increase intake of students from other states and abroad, which is one of the important criteria in the assessment for the Union education ministry’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Goa University is making changes to improve its rank.
“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 (OU) in its postgraduate (PG) programmes. For decades, the university has reserved 10% of seats, with a maximum cap of 2 seats per PG programme, for other universities’ candidates,” GU said on Thursday.
However, as the first round of admissions to PG seats has already begun, to avoid confusion during the ongoing admission process, the Goa University has decided to maintain the status quo for the current round of admission (April 4–5, 2025). Admissions for this round will proceed under the earlier policy of admitting a maximum of two other universities’ candidates per PG programme.
“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,” GU said.
For instance, the MSc chemistry programme, which had an intake of 30 seats in the 1990s, now accommodates 100 students.
“Yet, the OU reservation remained at just 2 seats — effectively reducing OU category to only 2%,” GU said.
It has, however, clarified that OU category includes Goan students who have 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. Diversity and Inclusion, vital parameters under national evaluation systems like NAAC and NIRF, are central to this policy update. A more diverse cohort enriches peer learning, encourages cross-cultural exchange, and better prepares students for global work environments and multicultural career trajectories,” the varsity said.
Any vacant other universities category seats will be converted to unreserved seats, ensuring immediate availability of the seats to Goan students.
“The revision does not affect any existing reservation categories, including SC, ST, OBC, EWS, or PwD, and continues to uphold state govt’s reservation policy,” GU said.