Goa college students can now pursue 2nd degree at Ignou

Panaji: Students in Goa will now be able to pursue dual degrees by enrolling in open and distance graduate programmes of Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) while pursuing their full-time degree programmes in one of the state colleges.

With Ignou fully implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) and the University Grants Commission allowing students to take up dual degrees, students now have 170 Ignou programmes to choose from to upgrade their qualifications simultaneously.

“Students can pursue a degree with us parallel to their full-time graduate programme. They will have the edge of two degrees by the time they are out of college,” said G Shrinivas, the regional director of the Ignou centre in Goa.

“It is also not necessary that they choose a programme with us which is complementary to their course,” Shrinivas said. “For instance, if they are pursuing hotel management, it is not necessary that they take up the tourism degree. They can opt for an entirely different course of their interest.”

Students can also take up short-term certificate and diploma programmes.

“We have also implemented multiple entry and exit points, which means that if a student has joined our MBA programme and wants to exit after five papers, he or she will be issued a diploma,” Shrinivas said.

He added, “If the student answers five more papers, he or she will be eligible for the postgraduate diploma. Ignou also now allows students to receive 40% of the credits with us and 60% with any other university to earn their degree. This system offers students a lot more flexibility.”

If a student has done any programme with another university, he or she will be allowed to transfer those credits through the external credit transfer system under the NEP to complete a degree with Ignou.

“This year, we have introduced new programmes like MSc environment, MSc geography, MA psychology, and MSc physics. Earlier, students from Goa would go outside the state to pursue the psychology programme,” Shrinivas said.

He added, “We received a good response with 64 admissions on the programme launch in Jan. Our second cycle of admissions will begin now. We are also adding two more study centres at Quepem and Harmal. We already have six centres and two specialised centres in Margao, Pilar, Miramar, Khandola, Porvorim, Pernem, Campal, and Farmagudi.”