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 told PTI.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the statements of purpose (SOPs) for HEIs to offer the Accelerated Degree Programme (ADP) and Extended Degree Programme (EDP) in a meeting this week.
Accelerated and Extended degree programmes
According to PTI, the degrees will include a note indicating that the academic requirements typically completed within the standard duration have been fulfilled in a shortened or extended timeframe.
However, these degrees will be considered equivalent to those earned within the standard duration for both academic and recruitment purposes.
Top foreign universities also offer the option to students to finish their degree earlier or later than the stipulated duration.
More on the programmes
The UGC Chairman further told PTI that,
- 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.
- EDP enables an extended timeline with fewer credits per semester.
- Under ADP and EDP, students earn the same total credits as in the standard-duration programme.
- These degrees will be equivalent to standard duration degrees for all employment and academic purposes.
- In the ADP, students will follow the same curriculum content and total credits prescribed for the programme for a standard duration.
- 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.
- In a three-year or four-year undergraduate programme, the duration may be extended up to a maximum of two semesters.
- The only change will be in the duration of the programme.
- 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.- According to the SOPs, the institutions may earmark up to 10 per cent of the sanctioned intake for ADP.
The role of sanctioned committees at HEIs
The HEIs may constitute a committee to scrutinise applications received at the end of the first or the second semester under EDP and ADP and select students accordingly, reported PTI.
The number of credits earned per semester will be decided by the committee."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 committee constituted by the HEI will also 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.
