Dual degree will be a game changer, feel education experts

By Rithu Dravid | NT

Bengaluru: Even before the University Grants Commission (UGC) decided to allow students to pursue two degrees at the same time, many institutions in India have been enrolling students in multi-disciplinary courses offered by foreign universities.

Bengaluru-based Institute of Finance and International Management (IFIM) is one among them. Launched in 2009, the college, affiliated with the Bengaluru University, has tied up with global certification agencies, such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Certified Management Accountants (CMA). This allowed undergraduate and postgraduate students at the institution to join the much-sought-after certificate courses. But affordability was a major factor and the number of enrolments remained low.

That is why education experts believe that UGC’s nod for dual degrees will be a game- changer in the country. Because students can now earn degrees at a reasonable cost.

Dr. M. Viswanathaiah, Principal, Institute of Finance and International Management (IFIM) said UGC decision will make affordability a thing of the past. “Many private and autonomous universities are offering student and faculty exchange programmes, but these courses had limited access to only a few students who could afford them. The access to such courses by many students in our institution was limited due to affordability. This is going to change,” he said.

Perusing the dual-degree programmes simultaneously is optional and this will benefit highly motivated students who are ready to take additional work.

“It is a good initiative taken by the UGC because the National Education Policy (NEP), has interdisciplinary courses with special degrees. This should be encouraged and the students can get dual degrees for our institutions. It is not mandatory but if one wishes to pursue, the student can opt to obtain the benefit which the NEP offers,” said Professor G. Hemantha Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, Mysore University.

The need to enable an individual to study one or more specialised areas of interest at a deep level is the focus of this proposal. Students can choose their options to meet their aspirations and expectations of the employers as well. Depending upon the career goals, students will have more flexible options to pursue the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) or the dual degree programmes.

“The objective is to follow a multi-skill orientation wherein the students can have a bigger bandwidth to do multi-disciplinary courses parallely and enhance the student credits. These dual degrees will add value in seeking job opportunities for students pan India,” says Dr. M. Viswanathaiah of IFIM.

Students will be able to apply for these dual degree programmes from the coming academic session, 2022- 23. The degrees can be pursued from either the same university or from different universities.