Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

UGC to Allow Students to Pursue Two Full-Time Degree Programmes Simultaneously

The admission policy for courses that will be offered for dual degree programmes will be decided by the respective universities and institutions.
April 13, 2022
UGC

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar has said that students can now pursue two degrees simultaneously in physical mode. These can be full-time degree programmes and would offer more room to students who wish to pursue other courses.

The guidelines will apply to all 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 wants to enroll in a bachelor’s degree in a different domain, s/he will be able to pursue a UG and PG degree simultaneously. The class timing for both the programmes must not clash.

Furthermore, this dual degree programme policy will be applicable for physical degrees, online degrees and even diploma programmes.

“As announced in the new National Education Policy (NEP) and in order to allow students to acquire multiple skills, the UGC has come up with new guidelines to allow a candidate to pursue two-degree programmes simultaneously. The degrees can either be pursued from the same or different universities,” Kumar said. “The idea is to provide as much flexibility as possible to the students. These guidelines are part of the NEP and are aimed to customise and personalise education, even allowing multidisciplinary education across various domains. It is a great opportunity for students to expand their skills,” he added.

Recently, news also surfaced of four-year-long degree programmes soon to be implemented in the country. While these programmes are expected to increase the value of a Bachelor’s degree, how they will fall in line with this new change of simultaneous degrees is yet to be clarified.
Among other changes being introduced, UGC has also implemented Common University Entrance Test (CUET) after joining hands with National Testing Agency (NTA). CUET will now be held throughout the country for all those who wish to get admissions to central universities.