The exams at the end of the ongoing even semesters of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Bengal will not be held this time, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday.

The universities, however, will have to conduct the last semester exams of the final-year students of both postgraduate and undergraduate courses, the chief minister said. The dates for the final-year exams will be decided later.

“The universities will skip one semester examination this time. First and second-year UG (undergraduate), third- year UG engineering… first-year PG (postgraduate)…. But the last semester tests of final year will have to be conducted,” the chief minister said.

The announcement means the universities will have to skip the second and fourth semester exams of the three-year undergraduate courses in science, arts and commerce streams under the choice-based credit system.

In four-year undergraduate engineering courses, the second, fourth and sixth semester tests will not be held and only the eighth semester exams will be held.

In the two-year postgraduate courses in arts, science and commerce, the second semester examinations that are conducted after the end of the first year will not be held.

The final and fourth semester exams of the PG courses will be held.

The undergraduate semester-end exams were scheduled between mid-May and June in most universities. The sixth semester test of three-year degree courses and eighth semester test of the four-year courses were to be held between mid-April and May.

An official of the higher education department said the semester-end exams of other professional courses, including the ones in hotel and tourism management and hospitality management, will also be skipped. Only the last semester exams of these courses will be held.

Officials of some universities said the last semester exams of the UG and PG courses are likely to be conducted after mid-June.

There is no clarity yet on whether students will have to clear the papers of the skipped semester in the following semester or they will be assessed on the basis of their performance in class.

The chief minister had on Saturday announced that all educational institutions would remain closed till June 10.