UGC chairman Jagadesh Kumar on Wednesday stated that, students with four-year undergraduate degree can directly pursue Ph.D programmes.

He further added that, universities can decide whether to offer three-year Honours degree or four-year undergraduate programme. 3-year undergraduate courses won't be discontinued until 4-year programme fully implemented.

Honours degree programmes are referred to as four-year programmes in the new credit and curriculum framework for undergraduate courses, which was announced earlier this week.

However, Kumar made it clear that universities have the option of either three or four year programmes. He told PTI in an interview on Wednesday that "it is left to the universities."

Candidates with four-year undergraduate degrees can directly pursue Ph.D and they will not require a Master's degree.

Describing the benefits of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), Kumar said, "The first advantage is that they do not have to do a Master's degree to join a Ph.D programme. They can also take a single or double major to gain a deeper knowledge of a given discipline."

"Since multidisciplinary courses, ability enhancement courses, skill enhancement courses, value-added courses, and internships are embedded in the FYUP, it will enhance the opportunities for students to take up employment or go for higher studies," he said.

The UGC announced the curriculum and credit structure for undergraduate programmes on Monday, giving students a variety of entry and exit options, the option to choose between a single major and a double major, as well as interdisciplinary subject options.

The framework was created by making changes to the current Choice Based Credit System.

Instead of the current three-year course, students will only be able to pursue a four-year honours degree under the programme. There will be two categories of honours degrees available: honours and honours with research.