UGC Update : Two degrees can’t be pursue by PhD students at same time

Under the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) new regulation, students pursuing a PhD will not be allowed to take two academic degrees simultaneously, M Jagadesh Kumar, chairman of India’s higher education regulator, said on Sunday.

However, as per the guidelines issued in April, students from all other courses, including diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, will be able to pursue two academic programmes either in physical mode or open or distance mode.

On Friday, the commission sent a letter to all higher education institutions asking them to come up with a plan that would allow their students to pursue two academic programs at the same time. It’s important to note that this only applies to students who are pursuing programs that are not PhDs.

“These double degree programmes are not applicable to PhD students as they have to focus on their research work to create unique knowledge in their chosen discipline,” Kumar said.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) permitted students to follow two goals simultaneously while taking into account suggestions laid out in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends that multiple pathways to learning be offered through the use of both formal and non-formal educational settings.

In a letter addressed to all higher education institutions, the UGC stated that a student is able to pursue two full-time academic programmes provided that the class timings for these programmes do not overlap. The letter also mentioned that a student can choose to pursue one programme in full-time physical mode and another in open and distance learning (ODL)/online mode; or up to two ODL/online programmes simultaneously.

“With this new reform, anyone who is doing an undergraduate programme or a post-graduate programme can take advantage of two degree programmes,” Kumar said. “For example, a BSc (mathematics) student wants to do a BA in languages with a goal to study natural language processing later, that is a possibility. Or an MA in Physics may like to do a BA (economics) with a goal to branch out into econophysics, that is a possibility. Econophysics is an emerging area where the physics models are used to study problems in economics.”

In other words, students who have already completed two academic programs at the same time will not be able to retroactively apply for benefits under these guidelines.