The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment implements ‘National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste’ under which scholarships are provided to study Master’s and Ph.D. degree courses abroad. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements ‘National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for ST students’ under which scholarships are provided to pursue Master’s degree in foreign Accredited Universities. Under this scheme, scholarships are provided to pursue Ph.D. and Post Doctoral courses also.

The issue of mutual recognition of qualifications is based on the comparison of education system of a specific country with that of India with respect to the eligibility and duration of courses. Hence, the issue of mutual recognition is dealt in a case to case manner by Association of Indian Universities.

Normally, equivalence is accorded to foreign universities only on the fulfillment of the following criteria:

(i)The degrees must be awarded by the foreign universities which are approved/ recognized/ accredited in their own country.

(ii)The programme of studies are pursued by the student as a full time regular student on the campus of the University of its origin and/or a duly approved/ recognized/ accredited offshore campus/ partner institution.
(iii)The minimum prescribed duration of the studies is at least the same as applicable in case of Indian Universities; and
(iv)The minimum eligibility requirements for admission in the programme of studies are at least the same as applicable in case of Indian Universities.

As per University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of the Master’s Degree through Formal Education) Regulations, 2003, duration of Master’s Degree in India is specified as 2 years and therefore one year Master’s degree is not recognized in India.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.