(‘The Right Choice’ is a series by The Indian Express that addresses common questions, misconceptions, and doubts surrounding undergraduate admissions. You can read the stories here.)
It’s a choice that plagues lakhs of undergraduate applicants every year — BA Honours or BA Programme.
BA programme is seen to be generic, while BA (Honours) is more “rigorous”. But is this perception misplaced? And is one better than the other?
According to Chandrachur Singh, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Hindu College affiliated with Delhi University (DU), who teaches both Honours and BA programme students, the difference between the two arts programmes is “largely structural”.
“While the honours programme is more specialised and focuses on a particular subject (eg: BA Honours History or BA Honours Political Science), the multidisciplinary one (BA Programme) is in which they will have more general knowledge from two or three subjects. The quality is essentially the same because the teachers who teach a subject for both programmes come from the same department. The pedagogy and syllabus for the subject is also framed by the specific department,” he told The Indian Express.
Mithuraaj Dhusiya, Associate Professor of English at Hansraj College, is of the opinion that a focus on a particular discipline might suit students looking to pursue academic research in that specific field. However, he does not rule out BA Programme students’ prospects for higher academic studies.
“Our past experience shows that students who entered higher education focused on an Honours degree, but that does not mean that this door is closed for students of the former B.A. programme. Some did manage to join higher education and research after completing a Masters degree in a discipline after it. The choice largely comes down to a student’s love for a subject. If they are interested in more than one subject, they can choose their first preference subject as their Major and they can choose something else as their Minor,” he said.
Singh adds that the BA Programme, with its focus on a combination of subjects, used to be a big draw for civil service aspirants earlier, when the exam mandated two optional subjects.
But with the UPSC bringing it down to one, a single specialisation in an Honours degree is something aspirants could look at. “Students focused on civil services today might find it better to be focused on a single discipline Honours degree,” he said.
The perception that BA Programme is opted by those who couldn’t get into a BA Honours programme has, over the years, been turned on its head. In fact, in a prestigious university like Delhi University (DU), the popularity of the BA Programme has skyrocketed in the recent past.
The admission cut-off marks for BA Programme at DU has been more or less the same if not more than the cut-off marks for popular Honours programme. In 2018, the highest cut-off was for BA (Programme), released by Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College for Women at 98.75 per cent. Admission figures released by the university for that year after the first list also revealed that maximum admissions (1,889) had taken place in the BA Programme course across colleges.
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