UGC to allow students to pursue 2 full-time degree programmes at the same time

April 12: University Grants Commission, UGC has revised its rules on degree programmes. In a virtual meeting with the media UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar revealed UGC’s latest plan to allow students to pursue two simultaneous academic programmes, including full-time degree courses.

UGC Chairman has said that students can opt for this scheme of simultaneous degree programmes either from the same university or a different institute. While details on this big change are awaited, it shows that UGC is taking some big steps to change the order of things in higher education institutes. The UGC will release the official guidelines by Wednesday and make them available to different institutions and statutory bodies as well. The UGC chairman said that a physical+online combination may be the best for students.

If a student is eligible to pursue a postgraduate (UG) degree and also wants to enrol in a bachelor’s degree in a different domain, he/she will be able to pursue a UG and PG degree simultaneously. The class timing for both the programmes must not clash. Multiple entry and exit options as introduced by the NEP will be applicable for all degrees, whether single or double, online or offline, degree or diploma, UG or PG.

Adopting these guidelines is optional for universities and can be implemented only after the approval of the universities’ statutory bodies. The eligibility criteria for each of the programmes will remain unchanged and admissions will be conducted based on the existing UGC, university norms.