UGC green signal, now Undergraduate & PGs can have 2 degrees at a time
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
New Delhi: Union Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, while addressing the media in a digital meeting on Tuesday announced, that students will now be able to pursue two full-time academic programmes at one time.
He said, “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”.
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.
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.
The recent guidelines will be applicable for programmes available across the country, wherein students can study two master’s programmes or two bachelor’s programme, or an undergraduate degree along with a diploma course.
While talking to the media, Kumar said, “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 emphasises the need to facilitate multiple pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education forms, in the sense that 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”.
“A student can pursue two full-time academic programmes in the physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme”.
“Universities will have the flexibility to decide if they want to offer such a scheme of programmes or not. The guidelines will only be applicable to lecture-based courses, including undergraduate, postgraduate, and diploma programmes. MPhil and PhD programmes will not fall under the same scheme”, he added.