Several academics on Tuesday expressed concern over the UGC allowing students to pursue two full-time degrees simultaneously in physical mode, saying it would “WEAKEN” the quality of education. Professors claimed that a full-time degree program requires full-time attention and efforts, while others said the flexibility would also be offered by a four-year undergraduate program.
Whether it is a degree or a job when it is full time, it means that the entire concentration of the person should be on it. It is one thing to allow a student to earn additional credits in a degree and it is quite another to allow them to earn an additional degree. It will only undermine the quality of our degree programmes, – said the Delhi University professor.
This step shows how much importance UGC gives to degree programmes. This doesn’t happen anywhere in the world. There is much more to a degree program, a time table, classroom hours, space for self-study and extracurricular activities. Another DU professor Rajesh Jha said the University Grants Commission UGC, is assuming that a student is “supernatural” or someone who can study for 24 hours.
If we talk about interdisciplinary then there are BSc and BA programs. By doing this you are questioning your programs. This will lead to complete anarchy in the education system. For the first time, the Centre has decided to allow students to pursue two full-time and same level degree programs in physical mode simultaneously from the same university or different universities.
By offering double degree programs, you are reducing the honours course. He said that the basic principle of honours courses is to provide broad, in-depth and advanced knowledge to the students and even under honours courses students can opt for discipline centric courses.
According to the draft guidelines prepared by the UGC, students can pursue two full-time degrees in three ways.
For now, the two degrees will be the only non-technical programs approved by the UGC. They can be a combination of subjects from different streams, i.e., Humanities, Science and Commerce, and admission will be granted based on the merit of the student and availability of programmes.
A professor at a top private university, said a professor at a top private university, doesn’t need to motivate students to carry the extra burden of a full academic program to have that kind of flexibility.
The UGC will soon issue detailed guidelines in this regard and the option will be available to the students from the academic session 2022 to 2023. There are already options like FYUP available for the kind of flexibility the UGC wants to provide to the students.
