105 universities to start 4-year undergraduate programme from this session

The Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommendations

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday announced that 105 universities, including 19 central universities (CUs), are going to start the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) for the upcoming academic session.

The CUs to offer four-year programmes include Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University, Visva Bharati University, Assam University, Silchar, Tezpur University, Central University of Jammu, Sikkim University, National Sanskrit University, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University.

The Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, English And Foreign Languages University, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Rajiv Gandhi University and central universities of Haryana, South Bihar and Tamil Nadu have also joined the list.

Other universities include more than 40 deemed-to-be universities, 18 state private universities, and 22 state universities.

The move is part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, recommendations that the undergraduate degrees be of either three or four years duration, with multiple exit options within this time period and appropriate certifications - a UG certificate after completing one year in a discipline or field, including vocational and professional areas, or a UG diploma after two years of study, or a Bachelor's degree after a three-year programme.

The four-year multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme, on the other hand, will be the preferred option since it provides the opportunity to experience the full range of holistic and multidisciplinary education, as well as a focus on the students' chosen major and minors, the policy had recommended.

Based on the recommendations of the NEP, the UGC created a new student-centered "Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes (CCFUP)" that included a flexible Choice-based Credit System (CBCS), a multidisciplinary approach, and multiple entry and exit options.

The framework calls for a credit range of 20-22 credits per semester. Semesters 1-3 aim to develop an understanding of all major areas of learning, including natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, mathematical and computational thinking and analysis, and vocational education.

In semesters 4-6, students will select a disciplinary or interdisciplinary area of learning for specialisation as a major and minor.

During semesters 7 and 8, they will work on research projects while also taking advanced disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses. The framework specifies FYUGP curriculum components as well as credit allocation.