What Is an Honours Degree? Should You Opt for It?

Everything you need to understand about Honours Degree, mostly covering about it in the Engineering Course

An honours degree is a variant of an undergraduate degree course which means you are studying something more than a simple undergraduate degree. For example, if you are studying Bachelors of Science Physics Honours that means you are more specialised in the subject than ordinary Bachelors of Science Physics students.

What forms an Honours degree?

As discussed above, let us look into detail. In addition to the subject in which you are graduating, you have the option to enhance your knowledge, and get some practical experience, within the same time period as your course. You will not get any additional time than specified to complete your degree and honours. A lot of foreign universities do give importance to it.

Criteria for Honours Degree for KTU students

Since I am an Engineer and had done my bachelor's from KTU, I will focus more on KTU as an example. Also, most of my academic guides are designed for KTU students. Other university students, please don’t get disappointed, you can notify me of the criteria at your university and I’ll be happy to include it here.

Necessary Conditions for you to qualify for applying,

• GPA 8.5 or above till S4
• No backlogs till S4
• Sustain your performance till the end of S8

Note:- You must pass all exams from now on, or else your Hons Degree will be stripped off and you will not obtain the chance again.

Why Honours Degree?

One of the main advantages, of an Honours degree, is an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the subject that you will get. This will help you for higher studies, maybe for research, a project or a lot more. There are certain offers for B. Tech students to directly join IITs for a research programme or PhD, whereby which Honours degree might become essential.

If you have been enrolled in the Honours Degree programme that means you have more than 8.5 CGPA which is a big deal. If you have completed the course with Honours means, you have been consistent with your grades throughout the course period ie. for four years. You didn't have any active backlog, you passed all the semesters with ease and you have indeed a good GPA which will sparkle your Resume and Career.

If you are trying to pursue any course abroad, any university will prefer you over any other candidate. Similarly, your degree certificate will emphasise that you also had pursued Honours which is a plus for you. This is an opportunity for you to stand out in the crowd.

Apart from the academic and career-related prospects, the gains from an Honours degree will solely depend on you and how your academic journey should be. If you’re an ardent learner and you don’t mind some extra effort then an honours degree can be fruitful indeed.

What should you do to obtain an Honours degree?

For obtaining the Honours degree, you should get a minimum of 20 additional credits for your degree subject/ branch. How can you earn those 20 credits?

• You need to obtain the required number of credits by passing subject exams in at least three subjects. Three extra theory subjects(from the list of electives) should opt for the end semester exams and you will have to write and the pass exams just like any normal subjects.
• Out of one of the three subjects mentioned will be a mini-project which you will have to submit by the end of last semester.
• In addition to the above, you must do two MOOC courses online, which are AICTE & college-approved courses for getting eight additional credits. MOOC should be a minimum of 12 Weeks long and you need to pass the exam with the minimum grade.
• Pass all regular subject exams from S5 to S8
• Maintain 8.5 CGPA by the end of S8.

Note:- There won’t be any supplementary exam for the Honours subject, which means you will have to pass the exam on your first attempt.

Important

Honours Subjects will not affect your overall CGPA, add or subtract any grade point. The only change will be on total credits. Under the new NEP 2020, you can change your courses you using credit transfer.

Cancellation of Honours Degree

Once you enrol yourselves for an Honours Degree, it is not necessary that you will be able to successfully complete it. It may be because you voluntarily pulled or also because of your failure to comply with the given criteria. Here are a few reasons why Honours Degree can get cancelled.

The main reason why your Honours degree might get cancelled is that you were unable to uphold the standards which were needed for you to pass this degree. Let us look into them in detail.

• You were ineligible because you failed to maintain a CGPA of 8.5 or above- This means, your CGPA if it drops below, 8.5 across the eight semesters, then you will not get Honours.
• You didn’t pass any one of your Honours Subjects- This means, you failed in any one or more of the three subjects which you were to write exam and pass that were supposed to give you extra credits.
• You didn't pass in any one of your Regular Subjects- Those subjects which are part of your main course need 100% pass even in your first attempt itself. You don’t have a second chance to pass or have the option to pass your supplementary exam.

Voluntary Cancellation

As said, if you believe that this is not your cup of tea, you are interested or for any reason, you have to cancel your honours, then you may proceed to do so. There is a special section inside your student portal where you can opt out of the Honours degree. Just be careful, because this action cannot be undone, which means, once you exited of it, you cannot re-enrol. Thus you should use this option very carefully.

Why Honours?

Compared to an ordinary B-Tech degree, you will have a big comparison among people having the same degree, especially from a big university like KTU where over 50,000+ students pass out each year. So the only thing which may help you to stand out either is a good placement job offer or else an honours degree.

In addition to the normal syllabus, students are engaged in learning additional subjects which is a plus, also that they have no backlogs for several semesters in a row. This is quite enough and more to shine your mark list. Also, for higher studies, you will be used to the rigorous training you got here. You will understand better how to handle pressure, complicated subjects and a lot more.

Apart from that, you need to understand that for a good career perspective like doing M-Tech/MS/PhD/Research etc, the Honours degree is indeed a plus point. You tend to have a better and deeper knowledge of the subject compared to your counterparts.

Why not Honours?

Not everything is meant for everyone. Even if you have satisfied all the criteria, here are a few reasons, why you may not pursue an Honours degree.

If you are not so keen on continuing your academic path, you just want to land yourselves in a job, want to try for any govt. exams. then there is no need for an honours degree. You can spend the same time for your placement or job entrance or exam preparation. If you are not so frenzied on academics, don’t want to study, you just wanted graduation and are not so keen on any kind of specialisation, or in-depth study, then please don’t opt-in for it.

Planning to change your stream or don’t have much time and effort for all this, then it's not needed. Unlike a regular degree, you need to prepare for more papers, mini-project, and MOOCs and also undergo a lot of effort with a lot of time to trade-off, maybe that can put you off.

There is nothing extraordinary that an Honours degree is going to offer that will change your life upside down. Of course, it has a lot of advantages, but those are not necessarily for you to obtain what you want to do in your life.

What is not offered by an Honours degree?

Just like it was mentioned, an Honours degree is not a superficial key to something, what it provides is a shortcut and is not exactly an escape from competition or any formal procedure. An honours degree won’t guarantee you a better career or job opportunities than others. An honours degree won’t help you in placements or entrance exams. An honours degree will not affect your CGPA. Another misconception regarding an Honours degree is that it is essential for you to have it you have to enter for research which is not true. You can enter the research field even without an Honours Degree.

My Experience with Honours Degree

When I was in my sixth semester, I got the information from my college that enrolment for Honours Degree is open for us, at that time which was in the 2015 scheme. The eligibility criteria were fixed at 8 CGPA. For getting the same we were asked to maintain our CGPA throughout the course as well as do two extra subjects and two MOOC courses. Only then we will receive our Honours Degree.

For two Semesters ie. 6 and 7, I had an extra subject, one was Mobile Computing and the other was Machine Learning. I found Mobile Computing fairly easy, interesting and useful compared to Machine Learning. Mobile Computing was more theory-based and also a lot of portions were quite relatable. Machine Learning was problem-based and also very dry. That was also an important reason why I didn’t choose Machine Learning as my elective, instead, I was forced to take it up as my Honours subject.

Coming to the two MOOCs, which we had to do, it was from NPTEL-Swayam. Both the course I chose was fairly easy and interesting as of course materials and syllabus. I also had to give a Computer-Based physical exam at the end of Week 12. They had practical exercises and weekly assignments. So, it was indeed a great learning experience. I ended up having two very valid certificates which I wouldn’t have otherwise tried.

Taking an Honours degree was purely my choice and when the circular was out, I informed my parents and decided to take up the challenge realising that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There was also a time when it felt like a sort of burden but with a dedicated and strong mind, I was able to overcome the pain.

What did I gain?

Given that I did my Bachelors in a totally different subject and later for the Masters I chose a different subject, you may ask me, whether the Honours degree effort was worth it? Honestly, I am not sure. It may not help me from a subject point of view, but of course, there is no denying that it is a remarkable achievement. I was always fond of learning and continue to do so.

I took it as a challenge, and I am happy that I stuck on till the end and I was able to receive an Honours degree which many of my classmates and batchmates couldn’t. Both the two extra subjects as well as the MOOCs were indeed a great learning experience and helped me gain a lot of knowledge.

Now the rules have slightly changed, ie. in the 2019 scheme. So be careful in the article, the rules of the game might vary depending on the time and also the University Guidelines. Since I was a KTU student, I will use that example as well as illustrate the examples in order to provide you with the full picture.

Should you opt for an Honours Degree or not?

I have given you all sides of the topic as well as a holistic understanding of the Honours Degree. With all the information I have provided. Just remember that you are in college, and while your friends may be into something else, you are losing out on your free time. But yeah it's a question of your future, so talk with your parents, and friends, take into account several variables, and scenarios, and also about your future and arrive at a decision.

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