Graduates can directly join PhD programmes under new pattern: UGC Chairperson

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman has rolled out new credit and curriculum framework for undergraduate courses. Jagadesh Kumar, the UGC chairman informs that the students having four-year undergraduate degree can now directly pursue PhD programs. The UGC Chairman also said that universities can now take decisions on their own for offering three-year Honours degrees or four-year undergraduate programs. He further informed that the three-year undergraduate courses will not be discontinued till the



four-year undergraduate program is fully implemented. 

The new credit and curriculum framework for undergraduate courses was announced earlier this week and it defines Honours degree courses as a four-year program. However, Kumar clarified that universities can choose between three and four-year programs. "It is left to the universities," he said in an interview with PTI on Wednesday. He was asked whether it is mandatory for universities to migrate to the four-year pattern for Honours degrees.