The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday notified the guidelines to  allow students to simultaneously pursue two same level, full-time courses across disciplines. The multidisciplinary option will be applicable at diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels from the new academic year 2022-23.

The guidelines that come into force from today, (April 13, 2022) encourage multidisciplinary education, in physical mode as well as  distance learning or online mode. UGC’s earlier rules did not allow students to pursue two full-time programmes. 

The tweak in regulations now allows students to get two degrees in the same stream or two different streams. Announcing the dual degree programme options, UGC chairman, Professor M Jagadesh Kumar in an online press conference on Tuesday said, “A student can technically pursue a degree in humanities while also studying for a degree in science. However, the permitted combination of subjects will vary from one institution to another as different institutes set different criteria for admissions.”   

Explaining the system, Kumar added, “If a university offers an online BCom programme in the evening and a full-time BA programme in the morning, the student can opt for both the programmes.

Students can pursue their dual academic programmes in three different ways. The student can pursue two full-time academic programmes in the physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme.

The student could also pursue both the courses in an online or open distance mode or the student could apply for one programme in the physical mode and another in an online or open distance mode.   

The guidelines will only be applicable to lecture-based, non-technical courses including undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma programmes. MPhil and PhD programmes will not fall under the scheme. All the programmes will have to be affiliated to the UGC and other concerned government bodies.  

The UGC has made it optional for universities to offer students such schemes for their programmes. However, it hopes more colleges and universities offer students the choice to garner dual degrees. The UGC has suggested universities devise mechanisms through their statutory bodies to implement the programmes.

The decision is in keeping with the NEP 2020 which recommends providing flexibility to students to personalise and customise education while receiving multidisciplinary and holistic education.  

However, the guidelines also state students who have already completed two academic programmes simultaneously prior to the notification of Wednesday’s guidelines, cannot claim retrospective benefit.  

Also Read:UGC urges institutions to award degrees within 180 days