(i) Alternate academic routes for the same Award

N.B. :
* There are no alternate academic routes to DNIIT, PNIIT and FNIIT.
* Route to DNIIT is after PUSRC consisting of semesters 1 to 4.
* Route to PNIIT is after PUSRC consisting of semesters 1 to 6.
* Route to FNIIT is after ANIIT consisting of Independent or
* Guided Studies + Seminar + Dissertation (Semesters 11 to 16)

(ii) Alternate subject area streams
Currently available only for ANIIT and FNIIT.

N.B. :
IT = Information Technology
MHE = Management of Higher Education

(iii) Alternate inputs for the same Award
In operational reality, no Suffixed Award under Domain (A) can be accessed without PUSRC.
However, consistent with the prevalent practice in many universities, limited access to Suffixed Awards in Domain (A), in principle only, has been provided for PUJRC as an alternate input. Academically, input with PUJRC is not permitted to begin the 1st Semester without clearing an extra component, called the "DSJ" (consult section 2.13).
Further, academic clearance of DSJ requires estimated 1-2 years of time. This is when PUJRC is sought to be placed in Domain (A) as the case of marginal deficiency . Otherwise PUJRC must be placed in Domain (B).
Another input issue practised by convention and existing by default is the BD issue. A 3-year BD attains a great significance and advantage to the holder of the degree by mere fact there is a degree. This is seen in the Advance Standing formulation with partnering universities (Table 2). Cognisance of the 3-year BD in the NIIT structure is taken only for operation and not by educational theory. In the NIIT system, it is a unique component which is usable in the dual scheme only upto GNIIT.
Similarly, DQS and SS routes to GNIIT (Diagrams A(ii) and A(iii) permit a 2-year BD in place of 3-year BD in certain markets. Once again, such input is required to undergo one year of stipulated courses within NIIT or in the formal system before proceeding to 1st PP Semester/Project Semester.
ANIIT (MHE) is based on diverse input qualifications with the stipulation that the duration of input qualification must be 4-years after PUSRC.
FNIIT accepts as input qualification, any combinatin of degrees which add up to 6-years after PUSRC

Differentiation between two Domains of Awards

N.B. :
(i) Any person admitted with higher education qualification than mentioned in either Domain does not get any special academic consideration or exemption from any semesters.
(ii) The NIIT Academy, as the mediator between NIIT system and the University system, will be the sole agency to make all final interpretations. The NIIT Academy, at its own discretion will consult the participating universities as and when required
(iii) The terms coined (PUSRC or PUJRC) represent actual terms prevalent country by country. Therefore, these general expressions need to be translated in the language of the practice of a country.

Contrasting treatment of two Domains in the context of access to degrees
Domain (A)
All details have been spelt out in earlier sections. It is important to first complete the lowest Award in this Domain which is DNIIT, earlier called PNC.
It is to be expected that a student of good standing may choose to withdraw at the end of any semester, before completion of all the four semesters of DNIIT. For convenience such an event is recorded by notionally creating new non-suffixed Awards like A, B, C. It is to be further noted that these non-suffixed Awards fundamentally differ from the non-suffixed Awards P, Q, R, S which are the basic outputs from Domain (B).

Domain (B)
This Domain initiates with a lower input than Domain (A) and therefore, automatically has a less ambitious termination compared to Domain (A).
Nevertheless, it is easy to imagine that unexpected outcome may emerge for which intelligent answer or counselling may have to be given to students.
Let us imagine a student who has completed the highest Award in this Domain (P+Q+R+S) which invariably gives in his possession the following items:
(i) A certificate from NIIT conferring the Award.
(ii) A Transcript (marksheet) for each of the four constituting prescribed semesters.

Obviously the difference between such a student and other students from Domain (A) requires to be clearly understood in order for the counselling to be effective and useful. The practical method is to identify the documents mentioned above that the student possesses and match them against rules of eligibility of any of the Awards provided in Domain (A).
From Diagrams A and B it is clear that the Award in Domain (A) which is to be used for this matching would be DNIIT.
Thus, the difference is reduced to the difference between PUSRC and PUJRC i.e DSJ. Now, from prior knowledge we can pronounce that this difference is the difference in time and difference in content between universal conceptualisation of PUSRC and PUJRC. A survey of the literature indicates that time usually ranges between 1 to 2 years and contentwise it is those courses which are prescribed after passing the PUJRC for ongoing students to PUSRC.
Should such a student be required to be counselled by a frank desire on his part to access the degree under The NIIT Acadeny alliance, the answer is obvious. The student should complete the difference between the PUSRC and PUJRC (DSJ) by being enrolled as a distance learning student for the durational difference, whether of NIIT or of the partnering university. The student will have to demonstrate a capability by passing specially designed exam either set by NIIT Academy or the partnering university.
It is important to provide in the rules general guidance for dealing with exigency which can now be only dimly viewed but not impossible to predict, that might happen in any Center in any country most unexpectedly. For example, country governmental policy restricting the duration of program of studies may truncate the designed NIIT program of studies for the various suffixed and non-suffixed Awards.