India allows universities to offer joint, dual degrees with foreign varsities through automatic route

The University Grants Commission on April 19 allowed high-ranked universities and colleges to offer dual and joint degrees with foreign universities through an automatic route.

The universities will not need the prior approval of India’s higher education regulator or other such bodies to roll out these programmes and collaborations.

The move would aid the internationalisation of Indian institutions, promote interdisciplinary education and offer a cross-cultural experience to students and may also bring in foreign exchange, UGC chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said on April 19.

But for this, an Indian institution needs to be either in the top 1,000 in the global university rankings or in the top 100 in the Indian national institutional ranking framework or should score 3.1 on a scale of 4 in the NAAC accreditation, the official accrediting body of India.

Similarly, the foreign university needs to be among the top 1,000 in the global university rankings by either Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) or Times Higher Education (THE). Both QS and THE are British headquartered global education ranking agencies.

The move could also bring foreign students to Indian campuses, a constant concern for the Indian higher education sector.

Kumar said all the arrangements would be done through conventional mode—these partnerships cannot be done for online, open or distance-learning courses.

The UGC chief claimed that the new regulations would further streamline and reduce "over-regulation".

He said the UGC board has approved the regulations. Twinning arrangements between Indian universities and foreign partenrs would mean students doing less than 30 percent of the course credit in a foreign university. This would be true of a foreign university too, which will have a twinning arrangement with an Indian counterpart.

The Indian university will give the degree but a foreign partner can offer a certificate enlisting the course credits done there.

In the joint degree arrangement, an Indian student can do more than 30 percent of the course credits in a foreign partner institute. Like the twinning programme, here, too, the Indian institute will offer the degree and the foreign partner a certificate.

But in the dual degree arrangement, both Indian and foreign partners can give degrees —one each, Kumar said. In the dual-degree arrangement, an Indian student can do more than 30 percent of the course credits in a foreign partner institute.

When asked why they have expanded the scope of the previously talked about eligibility criteria that such arrangements would be allowed for institutions that are among the top 500 global rankings, Kumar said it would have become too restrictive.

Higher education reforms

Last week, UGC allowed students to pursue two degrees simultaneously in physical mode, digital mode, and a mix of both.

Kumar on April 12 said students could pursue, for instance, a BSc degree in mathematics and a Bachelor's in data sciences. A student can do one degree in physical mode from one university and a digital degree from another university simultaneously.

As part of admission reforms, UGC said in March that Class 12 board marks would not carry weightage in admission to the undergraduate courses at central universities, including Delhi University, from the 2022-23 academic session.

Instead, India’s education regulator will conduct a common university entrance test for millions of college aspirants.