Four-year undergrad courses back on table

NEW DELHI: Students across the country may have to spend four years in college to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in line with a potentially controversial proposal the committee drafting a National Education Policy (NEP) is set to make to the human resource development (HRD) ministry in its report, Hindustan Times has learnt.

Senior HRD ministry officials discussed the proposal at length in a meeting, three people familiar with the matter said. The committee on NEP has studied the issue comprehensively and reached a consensus on the issue, which will need approval by the ministry, the people said on condition of anonymity.

“Engineering students spend four years to do their graduation, which gives them ample time to

courses such as Bachelor’s of Arts, Commerce and Science are three-year programmes

an extra year will give graduation students adequate time for projects and internships will need to be approved by the education ministry it will only be for new students do project work and undergo internships or training too. It is being proposed that across the country universities should also offer four-year undergraduate programmes so that there is more time for other activities s necessary for the overall growth (of students),” said one of the three people familiar with the issue.

Delhi University’s experi-

ment with a four-year undergraduate programme five years ago proved to be controversial. The institution increased the duration of the three-year Bachelor’s degree programme by one year in 2013, but withdrew it the following year after protests by students a section of teachers and a faceoff with the University Grants Commission.