Three-year undergraduate courses will not be discontinued till the four-year undergraduate programme is fully implemented, University Grants Commission Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said.
The new credit and curriculum framework for undergraduate courses was announced earlier this week and it defines Honours degree courses as a four-year programme.
However, Kumar clarified that universities can choose between the three and four year programmes. "It is left to the universities," he said in an interview with PTI on Wednesday.
He was asked whether it is mandatory for universities to migrate to the four-year pattern for Honours degrees.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman also said 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 on Monday notified the curriculum and credit framework for undergraduate programmes which will provide students with multiple options for entry and exit, a choice between single major and double major and interdisciplinary choices of subjects.
The framework has been developed by revising the existing Choice Based Credit System.
Under the programme, students will only be able to pursue a four-year honours degree rather than a three-year course like the present. Honours degrees will also be offered in two categories -- honours and honours with research.