Students can now be allowed to pursue an UG programme of their choice irrespective of the stream in which they have passed Class 12, and implementation of direct PG admissions for UG students belong to any discipline provided that they qualify a national- or university-level entrance exam like CUET will be easy through the new regulations proposed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as part of efforts to overhaul higher education in India.
The UGC also plans to introduce biannual admissions cycle, flexibility in the minimum credit required to earn a degree and provide interdisciplinary learning by allowing students to pursue two programmes simultaneously.
As per the UGC regulations notified on 4 September, these norms will apply to central, state governments, private and deemed universities. The regulations are also designed to eliminate “historical disciplinary rigidities” permitting students in other pre-approvals streams to enroll into programmes offered by a respective stream though they must fulfil the entrance examination criteria.
Regulations state as an eligibility condition, “The Qualifying Examination for a diploma course is not specified by central regulatory authority or body shall be the same as the qualifying examination for entry to the post-diploma level courses”.