Four-year honours degree, integrated course mooted

The committee, chaired by M G University Vice-Chancellor Sabu Thomas was constituted to suggest introduction of new courses in affiliated colleges.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Introduction of four-year honours bachelor’s degree programmes in top-ranked colleges and devising integrated courses that provide avenues for higher studies as well as employment are some of the proposals to be submitted soon by an expert committee to the Higher Education Department. 

The committee, chaired by M G University Vice-Chancellor Sabu Thomas was constituted to suggest introduction of new  courses in affiliated colleges. The recommendation to start four-year honours bachelor’s degree programme has been done to promote research at the undergraduate level. “At present, there is no research component at undergraduate level. With the introduction of such courses, the fourth year will be devoted entirely to research,” Sabu Thomas told TNIE. 

However, the honours programme will be limited to colleges that rank high in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) or have top accreditation from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). “We are focussing on new-generation courses that enhances employment potential of studentsand also give best options for higher studies,” he said. 

For instance, traditional BSc Mathematics course would be remodelled as BSc Mathematics with Data Science taking into consideration the huge potential of that field of data science in terms of employment. A student who passes the course can pursue the traditional post- graduate programme and at the same time exploit the huge job prospects in fields such as big data analytics. With focus on restructuring courses, students will also be equipped to start own ventures, Sabu Thomas said. The report containing the recommendations will be submitted to Higher Education Department this week.

New courses proposed in 21 engineering colleges under KTU
T’Puram: As many as 21 engineering colleges affiliated to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) will get 27 new BTech courses and 13 MTech courses for this academic year. A decision to this effect was taken by the varsity Syndicate. The 21 colleges include three government colleges, two aided colleges, three government-controlled self- financing colleges and 13 private self-financing colleges.

The courses will be sanctioned on the basis of approval from the state government and the All India Council for Technical Education. College of Engineering, Trivandrum, will get 60 new seats for BTech Computer Science course. MTech courses such as Artificial Intelligence and Power Electronics will be allotted 18 seats each. Five MTech programmes with 18 seats each have been sanctioned in Government
 Engineering College, Thrissur, also.