It's official: Dual degrees in university

MUMBAI: From the next academic year, students from Mumbai University can simultaneously take up two full-time courses. The report on the policy, which was submitted earlier this month, was approved by the universitys academic council. The council also decided to scrap the ordinance that made it mandatory for all engineering students to complete their course in eight years. Students have been protesting against the implementation of the policy without any prior warning.
The report on the dual-degree scheme, as it is called, was submitted by S K Ukrande, dean of technology. The council passed the policy on December 21. Ukrande said, Depending on the eligibility criteria and the conditions, the attendance requirement at both colleges as well as courses and the capability of students, we will allow them to pick up two courses.
He said students will have to block their admission in one college, seek a no-objection certificate from the principal and confirm the admission in the second college. These students will not be considered as special cases during exams if their paper overlaps, said Ukrande, which is why an NOC is a must.
On the engineering policy, Ukrande said no other faculty has that kind of restrictions over the number of attempts. So we have decided to scrap it for engineering too. It is difficult for the university to get data on the number of students affected by the policy as there are several students in different branches and different years.
Meanwhile, the credit-based system which was started for undergraduate courses will be extended to all the post-graduate courses.