Reversed Bologna Process in India

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9 januari 2012 | While European universities have been busy implementing the Bachelor/Master system, India’s HE sector is moving in the opposite direction. Top Indian institutes increasingly offer 4 year research Bachelor degrees meant to make Master programs superfluous.

Major universities in India are currently transforming theirthree year programs into American style four year programs. Thesenew tracks put greater emphasis on research in order to make Masterdegrees superfluous and prepare students for doctoral studies.

University officials hope to cut the overall study length of 5years (3 years Bachelor, 2 years Master) by 1 year. ChandanDasgupta, undergraduate dean at the renowned Indian Institute ofSciences, commented that “at the end of four years, our studentswould be fit for PhDs and don’t need a separate master’sdegree”.

More choice with limited capacities

Another feature of the newly introduced programs is that theyare closely shaped after American Liberal Arts degrees.Undergraduates no longer need to opt for a specialization in thefirst year of their studies, but have more time to orientatethemselves. This move is accompanied by an introduction of avariety of new courses which ultimately requires more teachingpersonnel and more labs.

Experts criticized that this strategy would put further pressureon India’s already limited higher education capacities. Agovernment task force calculated that the country is currently shorton 300.000 professors. This has already led to a number of creativeapproaches such as creating a digital meta-university allowing students to followcourses online.