Union Grants Commission (UGC) has stated that students will now be able to pursue two full-time academic programmes at one time.
Following the recent development, students will now be able to pursue two undergraduate or post-graduate degree or diploma courses in the physical+physical mode or physical+online mode, or online+online mode.
The guidelines will apply to all the programmes available across the country. Students can either choose a combination of a diploma programme and an undergraduate (UG) degree, two master’s programmes, or two bachelor’s programmes. If a student is eligible to pursue a postgraduate (PG) degree and also wants to enroll in a bachelor’s degree (UG) in a different domain, he/she will be able to pursue a UG and PG degree simultaneously. The class timing for both the programmes must not clash.
Earlier, as per the UGC regulations, students were allowed to pursue only one full-time degree course along with a diploma/ short-term/online programme.
Adopting these guidelines is optional for universities and can be implemented only after the approval of the universities’ statutory bodies. The eligibility criteria for each of the programmes will remain unchanged and admissions will be conducted based on the existing UGC, university norms.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) wants to “promote holistic development in both academic and non-academic spheres”.
OBJECTIVE:
In line with the National Education Policy (NEP), the latest plan of UGC aims to offer flexibility and personalization in the higher education and further allow integrative education to the students across various domains.
This move will provide more freedom for the students to acquire multiple skills.
This is overall a welcome move in order to provide a better opportunity for the students to pursue a career of their choice, the choice of which can be taken after some analysis and spending some time with the programmes at hand.
ADVANTAGES:
–A student interested in History can take up B.A. History in his graduation along with B.Sc Computer Science which can help him/her land up with say, IT job market. After pursuing his career in IT, if the person feels like switching in teaching line in history subject, the person can pursue B.Ed programme for a year, and get into a teaching job with B.A. History being done already. This will increase the chances of his/her employment without wasting another 3 years.
–An eligible student studying for a degree in a science subject will have the opportunity to learn the intricacies of a discipline in the humanities, social sciences or commerce, and vice-versa.
ANALYSIS AND WAY FORWARD
–This is an innovative move, and there is no harm in trying. But for a better career choice, a Sub-Career-Exam, along with Standard 12th for analyzing the exact interest and aptitude can help students pursue a graduation or post-graduation degree, with a focus on that particular career of choice. This will create lesser confusion.
–Learning at the university level, UG or PG, must involve problem solving abilities. The broad-based learning should not be limited to subjects and syllabus, and students should be able to collectively solve local area problems like building climate resilient structures or stubble burning. Here, science and engineering students should be able to collaborate with law and agriculture students, openly for a joint project. This is much better than a student pursuing engineering plus agriculture degree.
–Industrial training should be a part of the last year students, in all the streams possible. This will actually help them become job-capable, not necessarily, a double degree.
–BY YOGITA KADU
