Dual Degrees: Benefits & Challenges

A dual degree is a great initiative in principle, but it should not become an aspirational value or a fad, that students take it up even if they are not up to it. A degree in itself entails academic rigour, and it will be difficult to do justice to two degrees, worried the panellists during a discussion on 'Dual Degrees: Benefits and Challenges'.  

Much of the knowledge required can be addressed through the mechanism of major and minor subjects that the universities now provide, they felt. With dual degrees, students will become a jack of two and master of none, they felt.  

The experience that a student gets at a primary campus should be maintained; that should not be diluted. This is because an undergraduate education is not just about an degree at the end of the course, it’s about experience that shapes the experience, emphasised Prof Rajesh Khanna, President, NIIT University.

"A dual degree could lead to further marginalisation of already disadvantaged students. The aspiration value that becomes attached to it will force make students to vie for it," said Prof Rupamanjari Ghosh, Member of Governing Council, Raman Research Institute.

Charanpreet Singh, Director and Co-founder, Praxis Business School concurred and added that it’s not even clear at the moment if those pursuing dual degree are more qualified for a given job than those doing a single degree thoroughly.

When asked about his university’s stance in this regard, Siddharth Chaturvedi, Pro Chancellor, Rabindranath Tagore University,   responded that they would like to wait and observe and that the university has the approach of offering skills component with academic course, which is what is needed in industry today.  

The panellists felt that dual degree might actually go against the cause of holistic education, with emphasis on health and wellbeing, and skills component that the NEP is espousing. 

Meha Mathur

BW Reporters The author works as Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld