Ambedkar varsity to seek UGC’s views on dual major option

NEW DELHI: The controversy over the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) seems to have made other universities take a hard look at their courses and curricula.

Ambedkar University, which offers applicants an option for getting a dual major after completion of a three-year honours degree, has decided to seek the opinion of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on the course as well as its nomenclature.

The students who have completed their honours degree in three years and were looking forward to applying for the dual major option, as a result, are in a fix.

“One reason I took admission in the university’s Mathematics (honours) course was that I would be later given an option to get a dual major in economics. I have now applied for the option but there is no clarity,” said a student who completed his honours degree this year.

According to university authorities, the delay is because they want to be in the clear before they give admission to the applicants.

“Even though we give admission to applicants in a three-year programme and award them with an honours degree in that duration, we just want to be sure about the option of the dual major so that the students do not have to suffer later. The course we had passed earlier was in knowledge of the UGC as one of our Academic Council members is a member of the UGC as well. We just want to be sure,” said Shyam Menon, Ambedkar University vice-chancellor.

The university has previously also clarified that its programme is not a dual degree programme but a dual major programme.

“AUD offers three-year BA (Honours) Programmes, in consonance with the National Policy on Education which stipulates a 10+2+3 structure. For a BA (Honours) degree majoring in a particular discipline/subject area, a student has to complete a total of 96 credits in three years of which 48 or more credits should be in the subject in which she/he is majoring. A student may apply for additional credits both during and after completing the three year BA (Honours) programme. These are duly reflected in the transcripts and certification process of the University. Within this system, a student who completes a total of 48 credits each in two disciplines/ subject areas, will be awarded a BA (Honours) with dual major,” a statement issued by the university read.