IISc gets UGC nod for 4-yr course

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has allowed the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, to continue with its four-year undergraduate programme in science (BS), albeit with changes to its nomenclature as well as structure. Students admitted to the BS programme, will now get a BSc degree after completion of the third year of the course. They will be granted a BSc research degree on completion of the fourth year of the programme, a Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry official said on Tuesday. In a letter to the IISc earlier this week, the UGC had asked the premier research institute to discontinue its four-year BS programme on the ground that it was in violation of the 10+2+3 pattern. HRD Minister Smriti Irani disclosed the UGC’s directive to the IISc while answering a written question in the Lok Sabha on August 6. The IISc, however, later approached the commission with a detailed clarification that the programme was not a general undergraduate course in science but a degree in research. According to a ministry official, the IISc also proposed to change the nomenclature and scheme of the programme making it a three-year course for BSc degree and four-year BSc research degree. "The UGC has agreed to the institute’s proposal,” the official said. The IISc, which is a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, has been offering a four-year undergraduate programme in science (BS) since 2011. Soon after forcing the Delhi University to scrap its four-year undergraduate programme, the UGC came up with a notification on July 5, specifying the nomenclatures and duration of degree programmes for varsities and other higher educational institutions. In the gazette notification, the higher education regulator said that general undergraduate honours or general degree programmes, like BA, BSc and B Com, should be of three years’ duration, MPhil one to one-and-a-half years duration and doctoral 2 years.   DHNS