HRD Ministry discusses "bridge" course for Indian students who

The HRD Ministry today deliberated on the duration and the content of a proposed bridge course programme which an Indian student has to pursue after completing his masters degree in UK universities.
The programme has been evolved keeping in mind the difficulties faced by students taking up higher eduction in India or enrolling into PhD programme.
Master degree programmes are of one year duration in UK universities and therefore are not accepted in India which follows the system of offering two-year post graduate programme.
The UK has been raising this issue with India for long demanding equivalency of degrees as close to 26,000 Indian students pursue master's degree in the UK.

To address this issue, both the countries had hammered out a solution in the form of a bridge course earlier this year which an Indian students would take before applying for any government job, sitting for National Eligibility Test (NET) or doing Phd.
Sources in HRD Ministry said the proposal would be firmed up before the likely visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron here in mid-November.
Today's meeting was chaired by Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur and was attended by UGC chairman Ved Prakash and senior ministry officials.
HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju had, during his visit to the UK earlier this year, assured of an early resolution of the issue. The Association of Indian Universities is understood to have strongly suggested the bridge course programme as the best alternative.