Now, final year UG students can pursue 4th year to bag honours degree

UGC allows third-year UG students to extend for honours or research degree. They must choose a college with a PG center and complete a bridge course for transition.

In a significant step, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced that all the third- or final year undergraduate (UG) students enrolled under choice-based credit system (CBCS) can extend another year to bag an honours or research degree.

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However, these students will have to pick a college with a postgraduate centre to pursue the fourth year and will also have to sign up for a bridge course, which will be decided by the respective university, to streamline their transition, an UGC circular said.

The initiative will benefit 91 autonomous colleges across Maharashtra, who have decided to implement the four-year UG programme under the New Education Policy (NEP) from the current academic year.

M Jagadesh Kumar, UGC chairman, said, “Students currently enrolled in and actively pursuing a UG programme under CBCS are eligible for a four-year programme. The respective university may offer bridge courses, which could be either through online or offline, to facilitate their smooth transition into the extended programme.”

Shailendra Devlankar, director of higher education, said, “Presently, postgraduate departments at all universities in the state have CBCS. But this decision will benefit the 91 autonomous colleges who are implementing NEP from the current academic year. From the next academic year, the state government is set to implement NEP in all the colleges; so CBCS will eventually be introduced, and students will get the benefits under NEP.”