UGC To Introduce Dual Degree Programmes In India: Guidelines Coming Soon!
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced that students will now be eligible to pursue two full-time academic programs in physical mode simultaneously.
Previously, regulations barred students from pursuing two full-time programmes and they could only do a diploma/ short term course alongside a full-time degree.
The announcement was made by M Jagdesh Kumar, the chairman of UGC. The commission has reportedly put together a set of guidelines for the same which will be published on the UGC website soon.
Once the guidelines are formalized, they will apply to all programmes across the country. However, MPhil and Ph.D. courses have not been included in this category.
As per reports, students will be eligible to pursue two UG degrees, two PG degrees, or one UG and one PG degree. The university will have to make sure that the class timings for both the courses should not clash.
Details Of The New Guidelines
Furthermore, M Jagdesh Kumar also mentioned that the option for a dual degree is not mandatory for any university. The decision lies with the concerned statutory body of the university and will only come into effect once approved by it.
“In the last commission meeting held on March 31, it was decided to issue guidelines which will enable students to pursue two academic programmes simultaneously because the NEP 2020 emphasizes the need to facilitate multiple pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education forms," Mr. Kumar said.
"A combination of the physical model, as well as the online form, should be used to provide more freedom to the students to acquire multiple skills,” he further added.
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The revised guidelines allow students to either pursue two degrees in physical mode, one in physical and one in online mode, or both degrees in online mode.
UGC has left the task of devising the attendance requirements to the universities and it is up to the concerned universities to figure out the attendance criteria.
“With the rapid increase in demand for high-quality higher education and the limitation of only enrolling about 3 percent of students on physical campuses, there have been many developments in the fields of open and distance learning, as well as online education. Many universities are now offering both offline and online programmes,” Mr. Kumar added.
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