Students can pursue Dual degree courses simultaneously Soon : UGC

According to officials, students will soon be able to take two degree courses simultaneously or in different streams simultaneously to make a proposal in this regard to the University Grants Commission (UGC). However, one of the two degrees will have to proceed through regular mode and the other through online distance learning (ODL).

“The proposal was approved in the recent commission meeting for simultaneous dual degrees for students in India, allowing students to complete courses in the same or different streams at the same time. One of the two degrees, however, has to be through regular mode and the other has to be through online distance learning,” UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain said. He said that “an official notification will be issued soon in this regard”.

The UGC last year set up a panel headed by its vice-president, Bhushan Patwardhan, to examine the issue of pursuing two degree programs from the same university or different universities simultaneously, either in remote mode, online mode or Through part-time mode. However, this is not the first time the commission was investigating the issue. The UGC also constituted a committee in 2012 and the same was discussed, but the idea was eventually scrapped.

The 2012 committee headed by then Vice Chancellor of the Hyderabad University, Furqan Qamar, had recommended that a student enrolled in a degree programme under regular mode may be allowed to pursue a maximum of one additional degree programme simultaneously under open or distance mode from the same or a different university.

“However, two degree programmes under regular mode may not be allowed simultaneously as it may create logistic, administrative and academic problems. A student pursuing a degree programme under regular mode may be allowed to pursue a maximum of one certificate, diploma, advanced diploma, PG diploma programme simultaneously either in regular or open and distance mode in the same university or from other institutions,” the panel report had then said.

According to UGC officials, “The Commission then sought comments from statutory councils on the committee's report and the responses received did not support the idea of ​​allowing students to pursue multiple degree programs simultaneously. So the plan didn't work”.