Karnataka: Colleges must seek nod to offer 4 year NEP degree course

BENGALURU: With the first batch of NEP students entering their third year soon, degree colleges will have to extend their affiliation with respective universities in case they want to offer the fourth year of the degree programme. The Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) is expected to issue a circular in this regard soon.
As per the National Education Policy (NEP), students can get honours degree if they complete four years in the degree programme. Students have an exit option after completing three years. In case a college wants to offer the fourth year of education, it has to extend its affiliation by showing the necessary infrastructure, faculty and other facilities.
The affiliation process has to be done next year if colleges want to offer the fourth year. Since four years of degree is a global pattern and that is also the basic idea in NEP, we would encourage colleges to opt for the four-year format," said Thimme Gowda B, adviser and former Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) vice-chairman.
"If some colleges offer three years and others four years, students might prefer colleges with four years. Hence, it is important for colleges to go for an extension of affiliation," he said.
The four-year degrees can be offered with or without a research component. If a college wants to offer the programme with research component, it needs two PhD-recognised guides at the undergraduate level. If not, students wishing to pursue the fourth year have to be moved to the affiliating university or a college with affiliation for the fourth year.
The advantage of fourth year with research component is that students can pursue a PhD without a Masters' degree. Currently, the board of studies and 40 sub-committees are preparing the syllabi for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth semesters.