BENGALURU: For those with a thirst for knowledge, getting degrees in more than one subject no longer means completing one to pursue the other. The University Grants Commission recently approved rules for the dual degree programme that allows students to enrol in two universities simultaneously for different degree programmes. A notification will soon be issued. Rules until now did not allow a student to be enrolled with more than one university at a time.
Vice President of the UGC Bhushan Patwardhan told The New Indian Express that one of the two degrees has to be pursued as a regular scholar and the other must be obtained through distance learning or via online classes. “Dual Degree is a student-centric initiative. For instance, if a student enrols in X university, and wants a second degree which is available at Y university, she can opt for it,” said Patwardhan.
There are however, rules regarding which courses can be pursued through distance or online learning. For instance, an engineering student is free to pursue a second degree in say, sociology, but not vice versa. Experts however, are not eager to jump on the bandwagon. Even today, there is no industry acceptance for online courses although the aim is to enhance employability, said Dr Ashok S Shettar, vice-chancellor of KLE Technological University, Hubballi.
While the move could expand the scope of students’ knowledge beyond the confines of just one subject, it also has a flip side, says professor at Central University of Kerala, Amrut G Kumar. “Not only do students have a lot on their plate with regular courses, some even have do domestic chores, and have little time to pursue another one. Those who do not pursue the second degree may be considered incompetent,” Kumar says