Editor,
I am writing to express my grave concern regarding the ongoing implementation of the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) under North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU). While the recent article in your esteemed daily, “NEP 2020 and the present problems in FYUP,” rightly highlighted the structural and logistical hurdles faced by colleges in Meghalaya, there is a specific, looming crisis for the current batch of 6th Semester students that requires immediate public attention.
The core promise of the FYUP was flexibility—specifically the “4+1” structure where a four-year degree would allow students to enter a one-year Master’s program. However, a massive discrepancy has emerged between NEHU’s directives to its affiliated colleges and its own postgraduate admission criteria.
As per the NEHU Prospectus 2026, eligibility for the expedited one-year Master’s degree is strictly reserved for candidates who have completed a “four-year Bachelor’s degree with Research.” Yet, it is common knowledge among the student community that NEHU has not permitted affiliated colleges to offer the “Research” component in the fourth year, restricting us solely to the “Honours” track.
This creates a systemic trap. Through no fault of our own, students in affiliated colleges are being forced into a 4th-year “Honours-only” path that effectively disqualifies them from the 1-year Master’s route at the very university to which their colleges are affiliated. If we cannot take the Research stream because not all Departments in colleges have teachers with a PhD Degree and those that do, NEHU has not recognised them as Co-Supervisors so they do not have the UGC mandate of 2 years supervision/guiding experience. , why is the University then using the lack of Research as a barrier for higher education?
We are being asked to spend an extra year in college without receiving the primary benefit (the 1-year Master’s eligibility) that the NEP 2020 promised.
As a student of this state, I urge the NEHU authorities to provide immediate clarification. Will the University amend its Master’s eligibility to include 4-year Honours students from affiliated colleges, or will they continue to penalize us for a lack of facilities that they themselves have restricted?
E. Kharkongor
Via e-mail
