NEW DELHI — Higher
Education Institutions (HEIs) will soon be able to offer an option to
undergraduate students to shorten or extend their study durations instead of
the standard duration of their degree programmes, UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar
has said.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the SOPs
for HEIs to offer the Accelerated Degree Programme (ADP) and Extended Degree
Programme (EDP) in a meeting this week. The draft norms will now be put in the
public domain for feedback from stakeholders.
While the degrees will mention a self-contained note that
the academic requirements needed in a standard duration have been completed in
a shortened or extended duration, they will be treated at par with standard
duration degrees for academic and recruitment purposes.
Top foreign universities also offer the option to students
to finish their degree earlier or later than stipulated duration.
"Students can use this option to shorten or extend
their study durations based on their learning abilities. ADP allows students to
complete a three-year or four-year degree in reduced time by earning additional
credits per semester, while EDP enables an extended timeline with fewer credits
per semester," Kumar told PTI.
"Under ADP and EDP, students earn the same total
credits as in the standard-duration programme. The higher education
institutions will establish committees to evaluate students' eligibility for
these programmes. These degrees will be equivalent to standard duration degrees
for all employment and academic purposes," he added.
According to the SOPs, the institutions may earmark up to 10
per cent of the sanctioned intake for ADP. The HEIs may constitute a committee
to scrutinize applications received at the end of the first or the second
semester under EDP and ADP and select students accordingly.
In the ADP, students will follow the same curriculum content
and total credits prescribed for the programme for a standard duration.
"The only change will be in the duration of the
programme. Students shall have the option to choose ADP either at the end of
the first semester or the second semester and not beyond that. Students opting
for the ADP will earn additional credits per semester starting from the second
or third semester, depending on when they transition to the ADP," Kumar
said.
"If they join the ADP after the first semester, they
will begin earning extra credits from the second semester onward. Similarly, if
they join the ADP after the second semester, the additional credit load will
start from the third semester onward," he added.
In a three-year or four-year undergraduate programme, the
duration may be extended up to a maximum of two semesters.
"Accordingly, students can earn fewer credits in each
semester. Based on the credit structure in the Curriculum and Credit Framework
for Undergraduate Programmes, the committee shall decide the minimum number of
credits a student must earn in a semester in EDP," he said.
The UGC has noted that the HEIs may issue degrees for
students on completion of the programme in the opted duration (shortened or
extended duration) and need not wait to complete the standard duration for the
award of the formal degree.
"For the accelerated and extended degrees, a
self-contained note should be added in the degree stating that the academic
requirements required in a standard duration have been completed in a shortened
or extended duration.
"For an ADP of a four-year undergraduate programme, the
note should specify that the student completed the academic requirements of a
four-year programme in six or seven semesters, as the case may be," Kumar
said.
The committee constituted by the HEI will evaluate the
credit-completing potential of a student based on their performance in the
first or the second semester and give its recommendations.
The committee shall then recommend a reduction or an
increase in the number of courses and total credits per semester, as per the
duration opted by the students.
"Under the ADP and EDP, the transcripts should record
only the courses the students take in a semester. The examination and
evaluation system will remain the same as the programme with a standard
duration," Kumar said.
