Four-Year Honours Degree a Possibility

Students of all public universities in the state may soon be able to walk out with four-year undergraduate Honours degrees or study for a year and get a diploma.

BANGALORE: Students of all public universities in the state may soon be able to walk out with four-year undergraduate Honours degrees or study for a year and get a diploma.

This is the recommendation of a committee that was set up to make general degrees more attractive.

The three-member committee headed by former Kuvempu University vice-chancellor K Chidananda Gowda presented this model at a Karnataka State Higher Education Council meeting chaired by Minister for Higher Education R V Deshpande on Monday.

The meeting has decided to gather opinions from stakeholders within a month before its implementation.

“We have proposed skill development elements into courses for students to acquire expertise in each subject. If any student wants to leave a course after passing all subjects in the first year, he would be given a junior diploma. If he exits after two years, he would get a senior diploma. Completing three years would earn him a regular degree and if he wishes to study for the fourth year, he would get a honours degree,” Prof Gowda told Express.

This recommendation comes in the wake of the University Grants Commission (UGC) asking the Delhi University to rollback its four-year undergraduate programme.

Prof Gowda, however, believes the fourth year would be advantageous.

 “University education all over the world follows the four-year pattern. Our three-year courses are not even recognised abroad,” he said.

The committee was set up in August last year comprising of former Kuvempu University P Venkataramaiah and former Collegiate Education director M D Muttamma as members with scientist C Rajendra Francis as secretary.

The meeting was attended by vice-chancellors of all public universities. Bangalore University V-C B Thimme Gowda informed the participants that the university had already resolved to implement the model.

Other Decisions

All universities were directed to appoint a district judge permanently as an inquiry authority under Section 15 of the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000, to probe allegations at the university-level, a participant said requesting anonymity.

It was also resolved to ask affiliated colleges of universities to establish parent relation centres, which would act as a point-of-contact for parents and family members of students.

A proposal to consider only National/State Eligibility Test (SLET/NET) scores for appointing lecturers was shot down as it contradicts UGC-2010 regulations that mandate PhD qualification as well.

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