Youth Incorporated Magazine

In another big announcement by the Union Grants Commission, students can now pursue two full-time academic programmes simultaneously in physical mode. This decision by the UGC applies to all programs across the country.  

“This new move is in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that emphasizes on facilitating multiple ways to learning inclusive of  both formal and non-formal education, 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,” Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, UGC chairman said.

The fresh guidelines set by the commission will be out by the end of the day on the official website of UGC. As per the announcement, students can now pursue a combination of a diploma programme and an undergraduate (UG) degree, two master’s programmes, or two bachelor’s programmes. Further, if a student is eligible to pursue a postgraduate (UG) degree and also wants to enroll in a bachelor’s degree in a different domain, they will be able to pursue both the degrees  simultaneously. However, the class schedules and timing for both the programmes must not clash.

Students can pursue two degrees in different domains such as sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and other wide variety of disciplines. Now it is upto the universities to adopt these new guidelines and can be implemented only if the universities’ statutory bodies provide approval for the same.  The admission process and the eligibility criteria will continue to remain unchanged and take place as per the existing UGC guidelines and university norms.  

UGC’s this move will now allow students to not just pursue two offline programs simultaneously but also let them enroll for two academic programmes, one in full-time physical mode, and another in open and distance learning mode. Similarly, students can also apply for one full-time physical programme and one online programme. They can also pursue two degree programmes online. Both the programmes can be pursued from one university or educational institution, if permitted. 

Earlier, as per the UGC regulations, students weren’t permitted to pursue more than one full-time programme. They could only apply for one full-time degree along with online/short-term/diploma courses. 

“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,” Kumar further added, stating that the UGC will roll out modified guidelines for online education in the next coming weeks, following which top-quality institutes in India will start offering online degrees.

Although this new decision looks promising, its implementation seems difficult given the fact that every educational programme in India requires students to maintain a certain percentage of attendance to be able to give examinations and gain a qualification. For this, universities will have to chalk out a proper attendance criteria for these courses. 

Critics say that this new move will only make students run behind gaining degrees rather than acquiring good knowledge. They also say that pursuing two programmes simultaneously is humanly impossible.