Skip UG, do PG with diploma from polytechnic?

The HRD minister will today unveil the national vocational education qualification framework which radically proposes treating students holding advanced diplomas from polytechnics at par with UG degree holders.

Advanced diplomas from polytechnics may soon be treated at par with standard undergraduate degrees from universities, under a dramatic proposal the human resource development ministry will unveil tomorrow before states.

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The National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) finalized by an HRD ministry panel for the outlines a strategy that will allow students of non-formal education to enter formal higher education without spending years playing catch-up. HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday is expected to discuss the NVEQF blueprint with state education ministers at a meeting.

Under the proposed NVEQF, students who obtain an advanced diploma from recognized polytechnics will be treated as qualified at par with those holding traditional university undergraduate degrees, government sources told HT.

"At present, the non-formal and formal systems of education work parallel to each other with no intersection, meaning that students of one system cannot shift mid-way to the other. The NVEQF will change that," a source explained.

Under the proposed NVEQF, these students will no longer need to obtain UG degrees to study PG courses or to be eligible for jobs requiring UG degrees as a qualification.

The qualification framework also proposes linkages between Industrial Training Institutes and polytechnics, and between students of vocational courses in classes XI and XII, and students of formal education in high school.