NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC), while issuing the guidelines allowing a student to pursue two academic degrees in physical mode simultaneously, has written to the higher education institutions (HEIs) to make the statutory changes to facilitate the same expeditiously on Friday.
As first reported by the TOI in April 2022, a student can now pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme. This guideline is not applicable for PhD programmes.
As envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020, the guidelines stated that the objective of allowing a student to pursue two degrees simultaneously stem from recognizing, identifying, and fostering the unique capabilities of each student, no hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extracurricular activities, between vocational and academic streams, etc and enabling an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, ethical and constitutional values …, among others.
As per the guidelines, “A student can pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme,” and “a student can pursue two academic programmes, one in full-time physical mode and another in open and distance learning (ODL)/ online mode; or up to two ODL/ Online programmes simultaneously.”
According to UGC, these guidelines shall come into effect from the date of their notification by the UGC, which is September 30, 2022 and students can’t claim any retrospective benefit.
In its letter to the HEIs, UGC said: “All the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) were requested to devise mechanisms through its statutory bodies for allowing students to pursue two academic programmes simultaneously. It is once again requested that in the larger interest of the students, implementation of the said scheme may kindly be ensured and expedited, if not done so far.”
As first reported by the TOI in April 2022, a student can now pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme. This guideline is not applicable for PhD programmes.
As envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020, the guidelines stated that the objective of allowing a student to pursue two degrees simultaneously stem from recognizing, identifying, and fostering the unique capabilities of each student, no hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extracurricular activities, between vocational and academic streams, etc and enabling an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, ethical and constitutional values …, among others.
As per the guidelines, “A student can pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme,” and “a student can pursue two academic programmes, one in full-time physical mode and another in open and distance learning (ODL)/ online mode; or up to two ODL/ Online programmes simultaneously.”
According to UGC, these guidelines shall come into effect from the date of their notification by the UGC, which is September 30, 2022 and students can’t claim any retrospective benefit.
In its letter to the HEIs, UGC said: “All the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) were requested to devise mechanisms through its statutory bodies for allowing students to pursue two academic programmes simultaneously. It is once again requested that in the larger interest of the students, implementation of the said scheme may kindly be ensured and expedited, if not done so far.”
