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Soon, students can take 2 college courses together
Once notified, students can pursue two undergraduate, postgraduate degree or a diploma courses at the same time as long as classes do not clash or if either one or both are being taught online
College students will be allowed to pursue two academic courses at the same time as long as both are of the same level of advancement, the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced on Tuesday in a decision that represents a significant reform in the higher education system.
Once notified, students can pursue two undergraduate, postgraduate or a diploma courses at the same time as long as classes do not clash or if either one or both are being taught online. The option will not be available if either is a medical or an engineering course.
UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said the move was in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which supported multidisciplinary education across domains, including sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and sports. “The NEP 2020 recommends providing as much flexibility as possible to students to personalise and customise their education so that they can receive multidisciplinary and holistic education across the disciplines. So, if the students want to pursue two degrees simultaneously, they will have an option now. It all depends on the choice of students,” Kumar said.
Kumar said the provision will be applicable to non-technical courses affiliated by the UGC.
The UGC is planning to implement the reform from this year. “These guidelines shall come into effect from the date of their notification by the UGC. No retrospective benefit can be claimed by the students who have already done two degrees simultaneously prior to the notification of these guidelines,” the draft guidelines, a copy of which was reviewed by HT, stated.
Experts and academics, however, raised concerns over the announcement, warning that the provision may reduce the purpose of education to just pursuing degrees or dilute the worth of the programmes themselves.
Abha Dev Habib, an associate professor of physics at Delhi University’s (DU) Miranda House college, said: “The UGC, by issuing any such guidelines, will be diluting its full-time degrees and their worth. For holistic growth, classroom time has to be balanced with time for self-study, group study, extracurricular activities, summer projects etc. Education is a social activity and students learn through interactions. There has to be time built in for that. It is one thing to allow students to earn degrees with extra credits but to allow students to pursue two “full-time” degrees will be disastrous.”
According to the draft guidelines, students can pursue two full-time degrees in three ways. First, they can pursue both academic programmes in person provided that class timings do not overlap. Second, they can pursue one programme in person and another online or in distance learning. And third, they can pursue up to two programmes online or as distance learning.
“The two universities or colleges should be in proximity with each other. It is not possible to pursue two programmes in person from two universities located in different cities,” the UGC chairperson said, illustrating some of the conditions in which it will be allowed. Students can, he added, pursue a second programme from the same college or university.
The UGC also cautioned that under this provision, online programmes will only be allowed from higher education institutions recognised by the commission or the government of India.
Kumar clarified that it will not be mandatory for universities to adopt these guidelines. “Once the guidelines are released, universities can devise mechanisms through their statutory bodies for allowing students to pursue two academic programmes simultaneously. It will not be a mandatory requirement. But we are hoping that more and more universities and colleges will allow students to pursue two degrees together,” he said.
Admission to both courses will be done as per existing processes followed by respective higher education institution, Kumar said.
Students will not be allowed to use credits earned in one programme to fulfil the requirement of another programme, the UGC chairperson added.
When asked about the possibility of overlapping examinations, Kumar, “It will be up to the institutes. If two institutions have an MoU and have decided to let each others’ students pursue two simultaneous degrees then they can work out the examination schedule easily.”
Rajesh Jha, a political science professor at DU’s Rajdhani College, said, “This will reduce the purpose of education to just getting degrees rather than acquiring knowledge. How will it be possible for students to fulfil the requirements of two full-time degrees simultaneously? It is not humanly possible.”
