New Delhi: University Grants Commission i.e. UGC Chairman Professor M Jagadesh Kumar said on Wednesday that students with a four-year bachelor’s degree can now directly pursue PhD and they will no longer need to pursue a master’s degree. Recently, the UGC also announced new credit and curriculum framework for undergraduate courses, defining Honors degree courses as a four-year programme.
UGC chairman Prof M Jagadesh Kumar said universities can choose between three and four-year programmes. He said that it was left to the universities as to what they wanted to teach or what courses they wanted to conduct. They themselves can decide about this based on the demands and requirements of the students. Kumar, however, clarified that the three-year undergraduate courses will not be discontinued till the four-year undergraduate program is fully implemented.
Enumerating the advantages of the four-year undergraduate programme, the UGC chief further said that students may also take one or two core courses simultaneously to gain in-depth knowledge or expertise in a given discipline. This move will benefit students who do not want to pursue a master’s degree but aims for a PhD degree after completing their graduation.