India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) estimates that 105 universities in the country will start to offer four-year undergraduate programmes (FYUGP) in the upcoming academic year (2023-24), representing around 9 per cent of the 1,113 universities in India.  These include 19 central universities, over 40 deemed-to-be universities, 18 state private universities and 22 state universities.

A shift to four-year undergraduate programmes was recommended in the Indian National Education Policy 2020, which envisioned a multidisciplinary approach in higher education with institutions offering cross-disciplinary teaching and research across fields, a flexible curriculum structure, credit-based courses and multiple entry and exit options for students.  A new student-centric Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes (CCFUP) has been formulated by the UGC to support this transition to the new approach.

While four-year bachelor’s degrees are considered a preferred option, they will coexist with three-year programmes at HEIs offering the new course format as well as the HEIs who have not yet switched to the new system which still make up more than 90 per cent of the total as of 2023/24.

Under the new FYUGP programme, students will receive qualifications on completing each year (two semesters) of their undergraduate studies, including an UG Certificate after completing the first year, an UG Diploma on completion of Year 2, an ordinary bachelor’s degree after Year 3, and a 4-year bachelor’s degree with honours after Year 4. Students who complete a rigorous research project in their major area(s) of study will instead receive a 4-year bachelor’s degree (honours with research) after the completion of their 8^th semester of study.

Other changes introduced as part of the new system will include the choice to transition to other modes of learning, including offline, ODL, online, and hybrid modes of learning.

Each semester will have a credit range of 20-22 credits.  The first three semesters aim to develop holistic learning including areas such as natural sciences, social sciences, computational thinking and analysis and vocational education.  For semesters 4, 5 and 6, students will choose a disciplinary or an interdisciplinary area of learning for specialisation as major and minor subject.

British Council comments

India has previously attempted to introduce four-year undergraduate programmes a decade ago, but this was conceived and implemented only by Delhi University in 2013.  However, after one year of implementation, it was rolled back as protests and pressure opposing this approach mounted.  Those opposing were students, teachers and their associations as well as politicians. 

Whilst it is a point to note that both these programmes have been introduced in the year before a general election, this time it is the Indian regulator, UGC that has formulated the curriculum for FYUGP and there is an education policy framework providing the direction.

Success of this initiative is likely to encourage other HEIs across the country to follow suit in adopting the new four-year UG programme, as well as the potential for the government to step in to incentivise the scale-up. 

The first Indian students to complete the new four-year degrees will likely graduate in 2027, with Indian master’s degree students coming to the UK from 2027-28 onwards being a mixture of three-year and four-year graduates. UK HEIs may wish to consider a pragmatic approach to managing entry requirements for Indian students based on the type of undergraduate programme chosen.

The British Council believes that the FYUGP initiative will not have any impact on the recently introduced UK-India Mutual Recognition of Qualifications (MRQ) agreement, as this agreement is based on the number of credits for equivalence rather than on the duration of the programme.

If you have questions, please contact Sandeepa Sahay

Further information:

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/du-amu-visva-bharti-among-105-varsities-introducing-4-year-ug-courses-from-new-session-ugc/cid/1945056

https://www.adda247.com/school/ugc-release-4-year-undergraduate-programme-for-2023-2024/#:~:text=UGC%204%20year%20undergraduate%20programme%20Rules,-UG%20degree%20programmes&text=After%20completing%20a%20one%2Dyear,equivalent%20to%20a%20bachelor's%20degree.