According to recent University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, students who finish a four-year UG degree will be eligible to apply immediately for pursuing a Ph.D. degree in their selected area of study. Students would be able to enter the research environment more quickly as a result of this choice. Previously, students had to commit two years to complete a PG before pursuing a Ph.D. In the past, central universities such as the University of Delhi and JNU have abolished the MPhil degree.
‘This decision by UGC would lower the number of years spent in the higher education ecosystem,’ says RP Tiwari, vice-chancellor, Central University of Punjab, in an interview with Education Times. The required time to get a Ph.D. has also been cut from three to two years. The maximum number of years to complete a Ph.D., however, remains at six. Previously, students had to complete three years of bachelor’s degree, followed by two years of postgraduate study, before becoming eligible to pursue a doctorate. NEP 2020 also believes that graduates with a four-year bachelor’s degree should be able to apply straight to Ph.D. programs.
‘The amount of information that students would receive in a four-year UG degree would be critical in laying a strong academic foundation. This will help the students when they pursue their Ph.D. after four years. The fourth year of a bachelor’s degree is mostly devoted to research, providing students with research exposure at the undergraduate level. However, a subset of students who believe they did not have enough exposure to the research domain during their four-year UG degree should be permitted to pursue one year of PG before enrolling in the Ph.D. program,’ Tiwari argues.
‘This system should be adaptable in order to fulfill the demands of a wide range of learners. Enrollment in PG courses will fall as a result of this move, but it will have no effect on the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)’, Tiwari notes. ‘The decision announced by UGC would be advantageous to Science students, who may actively enroll in research while in their early 20s,’ says Anil Joseph Pinto, registrar at Christ University in Bangalore. Students will have a better foundation if they engage in the research environment early. However, most master’s programs in fundamental and social sciences will now suffer a decrease in enrolment. According to Pinto, this sort of approach is used in the best colleges in the United States of America.
Post Your Comments