The university grant commission announced that students will have the option to pursue two academic programs. It will start from the academic session of 2022 to 2024 for higher educational levels.
The aim of introducing it is to eliminate the hard separations between arts and sciences, curricular and extra-curricular, and vocational and academic streams. The new UGC two-degree scheme will also enable an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest.
The students will be allowed many possible combinations in terms of the mode of study.
Students can now study for two full-time academic programs simultaneously offline, provided that class timings do not clash. They can also opt for one in physical mode and the other in open and distance learning or both in online mode.Â
This means that students can now study for two courses in the undergraduate or postgraduate programs together, either online or offline, for a diploma or degree. The scheduled time of the classes should not clash with each other. An example: a student can pursue BA classes in the morning and BCom classes in the evening.Â
The courses can be from varying streams and from different universities that are approved by the UGC. Students will be allowed to pursue multidisciplinary programs. For example, with a BSc in Chemistry, a BA in History, a BCom Honors with a diploma in Data Science, etc. The two programs may be pursued from the same university or different universitiesÂ
UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar said that following the National Education Policy (NEP), the latest move aims to offer flexibility and personalization of higher education and even allow multidisciplinary education across various domains for students.Â
The degrees and diplomas that the students will be earning through higher education in the two-degree format will be governed by UGC and the statutory bodies of higher education.Â
