The University Grants Commission (UGC) has introduced Ayurveda Biology as a new subject in the National Eligibility Test (NET).

While we are moving towards the new academic year 2025, here we are remembering the major announcements made by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for educational institutions in 2024.

Graduate students will have the option to choose the duration of courses.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Higher Education Institutes to offer Accelerated Degree Programmes (ADP) and Extended Degree Programmes (ADP). This will enable graduate students to shorten or extend their period of study instead of the standard duration of their degree program. EDP allows students to complete a three-year or four-year degree in less time by earning additional credits per semester, on the other hand, EDP will enable an extended timeline with fewer credits per semester. Although the degree will have a self-contained note mentioning that academic requirements required in the standard duration have been completed in the shortened or extended period, they will be considered equivalent to a standard duration degree for educational and recruitment purposes.

UGC may allow completion of the four-year degree course in three years

According to UGC Chairman M Jagadeesh Kumar, the UGC education body is considering faster degree completion options for students. This means that students will soon be allowed to complete a three-year degree course in two and a half years and a four-year course in three years.

Ayurveda Biology was introduced as a subject in National Eligibility Test

UGC has included Ayurveda Biology as a new subject in the UGC-National Eligibility Test (NET) starting from December 2024 cycle. The inclusion of Ayurveda Biology is to categorize traditional Indian knowledge in higher education by including it.

UGC is working to change the recruitment process of professors

UGC is working on changing the recruitment process of professors. As per the new rules, postgraduate degree holders passionate about new areas like entrepreneurship, startups and industry partnerships can be directly appointed as faculty in higher education institutions. As per the existing rules, a four-year graduation/PG with PhD is the minimum qualification to be recruited as a professor. Also, graduation/post-graduation and PhD in the same subject is mandatory.

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