The UGC has allowed students to pursue two degree programs simultaneously. “The Government has decided to permit students to pursue two full time and same level degree programmes in physical mode concurrently either at the same University or different Universities” says UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) would shortly issue the detailed guidelines and the option would be available for students from the academic session 2022-23. As announced in the National Education Policy (NEP) and in order to allow students to acquire multiple skills , UGC has come forward with a new guideline to permit a candidate to pursue two degree programmes in physical mode simultaneously.
The UGC had planned for such a move for a long time but received the go-ahead only in 2020. The Commission had set up a committee in 2012 to analyse and examine the idea but it was completely junked.
UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar also explains that the two programmes opted by the students at the same time must be of the same level. For instance, they can only pursue two undergraduate or two postgraduate or two diploma degrees together.
As per the UGC drafted guidelines, students can pursue two full-time degrees by three ways: (1) They can pursue two degrees full time in physical mode where the class timings of one programme do not overlap with the class timings of another programme.
(2) They can pursue one programme in Physical mode and another via online or distance mode. (3) They can pursue upto two degree programmes in online or distance mode simultaneously.
UGC has approved two degrees which are non-technical programmes only as of now. There can be a combination of subjects from different streams such as: Humanities, Science and Commerce and admission will be based depending on the eligibility of the student and availability of the programmes. It is also informed that the choice of permission is not mandatory for the institutions but the commission hopes more and more institutions allow students to pursue two degrees together.
The institutions can decide their admission process and eligibility requirements, if a university requires a student to attend CUET (Common University Entrance Test) they are free to do that. The attendance requirements are decided by the respective colleges and institutions. For the clarification of the students, they will not be allowed to use the credits earned in one programme to fulfil the requirement of another programme. Each programme has its own credit requirements and they have to fulfil that. In regards to the possibility of overlapping examinations, it will be up to the institutes. If two institutions have an MoU and have decided to let each other, then scheduling of the examinations can be worked out in such a way it does not overlap for the students pursuing two degrees simultaneously.
When asked about similar options in other countries, Kumar mentioned that it could be that some country offers flexibility but if not, India could be the first to opt for this higher education reform. With this reform, a student will be able to pursue BCom as well as a Mathematics degree together if he/she is eligible and wishes to do so. The idea is to provide flexibility to the students as much as possible.
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