UGC Approves Flexible Degree Durations for Undergraduate Students with Accelerated and Extended Programmes

NEW DELHI: 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 has said. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the SOPs for HEIs to offer the Accelerated Degree Programme (ADP) and Extended Degree Programme (EDP) in a meeting this week. The draft norms will now be put in the public domain for feedback from stakeholders.
While the degrees will mention a self-contained note that the academic requirements needed in a standard duration have been completed in a shortened or extended duration, they will be treated at par with standard duration degrees for academic and recruitment purposes.
Top foreign universities also offer the option to students to finish their degree earlier or later than stipulated duration.
"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, while EDP enables an extended timeline with fewer credits per semester," Kumar told PTI.
"Under ADP and EDP, students earn the same total credits as in the standard-duration programme. The higher education institutions 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," he added.
According to the SOPs, the institutions may earmark up to 10 per cent of the sanctioned intake for ADP. The HEIs may constitute a committee to scrutinize applications received at the end of the first or the second semester under EDP and ADP and select students accordingly.
In the ADP, students will follow the same curriculum content and total credits prescribed for the programme for a standard duration.
"The only change will be in the duration of the programme. 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," Kumar 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 up to a maximum of two semesters.
"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 UGC has noted that the 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.
"For the accelerated and extended degrees, a self-contained note should be added in the degree stating that the academic requirements required in 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," Kumar said.
The committee constituted by the HEI will 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.