NEW DELHI: Soon, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will be able to offer undergraduate students the option to shorten or extend their study duration instead of following the standard period for their degree programmes.
Speaking with this paper, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar said that through Accelerated Degree Programmes (ADP) or Extended Degree Programmes (EDP), students can now complete a three-year or four-year degree in reduced time by earning additional credits per semester.
He explained that EDP enables an extended timeline with fewer credits per semester.
The UGC approved the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for HEIs to offer ADP and EDP in a meeting held on November 13.
“Under ADP and EDP, students will earn the same total credits as in the standard-duration programme,” he said.
The draft norms will now be put in the public domain for feedback from stakeholders.
The National Credit Framework (NCrF) introduces flexibility in higher education by allowing learners to complete undergraduate programmes through ADP or EDP in addition to standard-duration degrees, he added.
The HEIs 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.
According to the SOPs, the institutions may earmark up to 10 percent of the sanctioned intake for ADP.
"The only change will be in the duration of the programme. Students will have the option to choose ADP either at the end of the first semester or the second semester, and not beyond that," he added.
"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," the UGC Chairman 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 by up to a maximum of two semesters.
Students can earn fewer credits in each semester. Based on the credit structure in the Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes, the committee will decide the minimum number of credits a student must earn in a semester in the EDP, he said.
The commission has noted that HEIs may issue degrees for students upon completion of the programme in the opted duration (whether shortened or extended) and need not wait for the completion of the standard duration for the formal degree award.
For accelerated and extended degrees, a self-contained note should be added to the degree, stating that the academic requirements typically required for 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," he further added.
Under the ADP and EDP, the transcripts will record only the courses that students take in a semester.
The SOPs also state that government departments, private organizations, and recruiting agencies like UPSC/State Service Commission should treat degrees from ADP and EDP on par with degrees of standard duration.