UGC’s 2nd degree program difficult to get seats in top colleges, may reduce quality, fear experts

Getting admission in top colleges is tough and UGC allows students to fight for not only one but several top colleges at the same time, it is likely that students with higher scores can secure seats in two colleges and average Students with scores can be carried forward. A lower cut-off college.

“Students are now applying in many programs for admission in their dream college, one can expect increasing competition among courses in top colleges. There is also a possibility of a student occupying multiple seats. Universities will need to enhance their infrastructure for offline evening classes and online learning to meet the increase in demand,” said Prateek Bhargava, founder, Mindler, one of the largest career guidance platforms in India.

Kamlesh Vyas, partner, Deloitte India, believes there is a risk that better-qualified students may drop out of additional courses, leaving fewer opportunities for others. However, his major concern was whether employers would see the two degrees as an add-on or a dilution of content.

Will employers see this as a diluted degree?

“We will also need to look at how employers view students who have taken two courses simultaneously versus those who have taken them sequentially. An alternative to the policy of the UGC, which could have achieved similar goals, could have been to widen the scope of multidisciplinary electives and credit courses in degree programmes, as is a practice in many international universities,” said Vyas. said.

Not only industry but also academia are concerned about the quality of delivery while awarding the two degrees. Prof (Dr) Dwarika Prasad Uniyal, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Founding Dean, School of Economics and Finance, RV University, Bengaluru, said: “Quality is very important and hence I feel the UGC needs to check ridership and quality. required, especially in pure online degrees which will be awarded by top 100 NIRF ranked universities. The end market will also determine which courses will run and which will lose steam as students will be attracted to only higher quality and more specialized courses for their second degree.”

He also believes that the new policy will make online degrees more streamlined and force online players to offer better and more interesting programs to complement traditional degrees.

“Indeed, students are more likely to opt for an online degree with a physical one, but it will be interesting to see how universities enable students to pursue multiple programs in physical mode. This move is certainly going to be online. Will bring a lot more streamlining and structure to the world of learning and digital degree/courses,” Bhargava said.

“The major challenge that reform needs to address is value creation for the students after completing the degree. Today we have thousands of youth who have degree but they don’t have job. These students rely on online courses/certificates to enhance their skills or to learn practical skills to get employed. While multidisciplinary education is great for students, it will be necessary to ensure that the selection is done wisely to open up more career opportunities for the students,” says the career coach.

Teaching load in students may increase stress

Having two-degree courses can make the entire college experience more time-bound and constrained, putting pressure not only on students but also on teachers.

“This could create an additional teaching load, especially if universities were to increase intake for courses to meet the additional expected demand, especially when there is a shortage of faculty in higher education. It can also put a burden on students who take two courses and may compromise the quality of learning for multiple degrees or diplomas. This could also create coordination problems for universities on real-time courses at the planning level and in the conduct of programs, said Deloitte’s Vyas, as any change in the schedule would inconvenience students who are pursuing other courses. Huh.

Professor and Director of Jaipuria Institute of Management Prof. (Dr.) Devendra Narang believes that online degrees can be more streamlined if a proper systematic structure is maintained by the universities for imparting online education focusing on the skills of the students. , Ghaziabad.

He said, “When the student is pursuing both a physical degree and an online degree, the class time of one program should not overlap with that of another program in order to streamline both degrees. This can increase stress levels among students. But will definitely help the students to have the right skill set for the industry. If both the physical and online system will work in a predefined structured manner, it will not reduce the quality of education.”

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