Mumbai: Engineering students enrolled in colleges affiliated with Mumbai University will now graduate with a BSc (Tech Engineering) degree if they choose to exit after three years. Earlier, students who were unable to complete the four-year BE/BTech programmes were labelled as “dropouts”. These students will now receive a recognised undergraduate degree from the university, if they complete the minimum requirement. The university’s academic bodies have recently finalised the nomenclature for this degree for students from autonomous colleges who are set to complete the third year in April-May.The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 framework enables multiple entry and exit for students each year, thereby, making students eligible for a degree after the completion of the third year too. A student completing two years is also eligible for a diploma programme under NEP. Post the implementation of NEP, institutions such as the IITs, too, had decided to award a BS (Engineering) degree to students completing three years of studies. Earlier, IIT Bombay had decided to award a BS (Engineering) degree to students who complete 60% of their total credit requirement.A senior university official said while the NEP framework allows students to exit with a recognised degree after three years, they wanted the degree’s title to be slightly different and unique to the university. “After deliberation, we have decided to award the students a B Sc (Tech Engineering) degree,” said the official. Since autonomous colleges implemented the four-year programme under NEP in 2023-24, the first batch to complete three years will be graduating this year. This could also help students who are finding it difficult to successfully meet the demands of the four-year BE/B TEch programmes.Hari Vasudevan, principal, Dwarkadas J Sanghvi College of Engineering, said many students are still unaware of the full range of benefits offered under the NEP. He said, “Once students become more informed, especially about skill-based and apprenticeship- embedded programmes, they may begin to consider exiting after three years. However, with traditional degrees like BA, BCom, and BSc also transitioning into four-year formats, students will be more inclined to complete the full duration of engineering programmes as well.” He said most prefer to continue to the fourth year, as a BTech/BE degree is widely perceived to hold greater value in the job market.
