(a) whether the Government has set up a panel to recognise one-year Master’s degrees from foreign universities;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the major recommendations of the said panel;
(c) the action taken by the Government on the recommendation given by the panel;
(d) whether the Government plans to recognise the one-year Master’s degrees from leading universities of the world; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ‘NISHANK’)
(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 318 FOR REPLY ON 15.07.2019 ASKED BY SHRI SHUSHIL KUMAR SINGH REGARDING MASTER’S DEGREE FROM FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES
(a) to (e): No, Sir. No such panel specifically to recognize one year Master’s Degree from foreign university, has been set up. However, a Committee under the Chairpersonship of Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) was set up to look into the problems of equivalence of qualifications, obtained in a foreign country, at various stages of education system. The Committee gave its recommendations which were centred around the principle of mutual respect for the academic sovereignty of each country.
As per the recommendations, India may enter into agreement with such countries as have put in place a rigorous, robust and credible system of approval/recognition/accreditation/quality assurance of their higher educational institutions and their programme of studies and an attempt may be made to recognized/accredited higher education institutions in the respective countries and such qualifications be treated as equivalent to the qualifications in India, level by level, and vice versa.
India has, so far, signed Agreement/MOU on mutual recognition of academic qualifications with France, on 10th March, 2019, and with Morocco, on 22.01.2019 to facilitate the students from both the sides to have a hassle free mobility and to have a valid degree. Draft MOUs on mutual recognition of academic qualifications have been shared with all the countries targeted under Study in India Programme (a Programme with the objective to increase the number of inbound foreign students in the country) for their consideration. India also participated in discussion on inter-governmental meeting on the preliminary draft of the UNESCO’s Global Convention on the recognition of higher education qualifications held on 5-7 December, 2018 at Paris.
There is no proposal at present to recognize one year Master’s degree obtained from foreign countries. As per current Policy, equivalence is accorded by AIU only for those Master Degrees awarded by approved/recognized/accredited foreign universities that are of 2-Year duration. Signing umbrella MOU on mutual recognition of qualifications at multilateral basis is not practicable due to variation in higher education system worldwide.
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