New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released the recommendations of an expert committee on new nomenclature for degrees awarded by higher education institutions.
The recommendations include awarding degrees with the nomenclature ‘Honors with Research’ if the programme has research components embedded in it — for example, BA (Hons with Research) and BCom (Hons with Research).
Another proposed change is handing out Bachelor of Science or BS degrees in non-science fields like arts, humanities, business administration, management and commerce etc. This BS degree will include increased specialisation in the field of study.
These recommendations, released by the UGC Thursday, come at a time when the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is afoot. A final decision on the recommendations will be taken later.
The recommendations, given by a five-member expert committee, also suggest that universities can adopt the ‘Master of Science (MS)’ nomenclature for both the one- and two-year postgraduate programmes, and even for disciplines such as arts, humanities, management, and commerce.
In addition to this, keeping up with global patterns of graduation, students could now be awarded degrees on completion of their credits, irrespective of the minimum duration of the programme.
The expert committee has also asked for the creation of a standing committee with nominees from the respective regulatory authorities, on a need basis, for undertaking the exercise of revising the nomenclature in line with its latest recommendations.
Universities can send suggestions
Since deciding degree nomenclature, the recommendations say, is an ongoing process, universities can send any recommendations they may have to the UGC.
It read, “In case a need is felt to introduce new nomenclature(s) at any level relevant to contemporary and emerging societal needs, a proposal for the same, along with justification, shall be submitted to the UGC. The standing committee constituted for the purpose shall consider the same and make recommendations to the commission.
“On the approval of the commission, the newer degree nomenclature shall be notified by the UGC.”
In addition to this, the committee has also recommended discontinuing the ‘MPhil’ nomenclature, in line with the NEP 2020’s recommendation to scrap the MPhil programme.
Among other things, the recommendations say, the three-year undergraduate degree programme may be referred to as BA/BCom/BSc, or with the ‘Honours’ suffix currently used.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)