THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With most of the first batch BTech students failing in the final year exams, the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) Board of Governors meeting on Saturday decided to initiate various measures to improve the standards of the under-performing engineering colleges of the state.
The University will now monitor the subpar colleges and prod them to achieve better results. “Based on our findings, some colleges have below average results and these colleges will be monitored regularly. Besides, the university will also start a ‘Student Support Centre’ to hear the student complaints and facilitate better communication between them and the varsity,” University Registrar G P Padmakumar said. The varsity has also decided to make an internship part of the curriculum.
KTU has also formed an academic reforms committee to constitute panels at all engineering colleges to identify and guide academically deficient students. As a first step, separate expert panels will be set up in each college - including self-financing colleges - to monitor students who fail regularly.
The panel will comprise faculty members and skill development experts. The panel will train students in job skills and guide them based on their passion and taste.
The KTU’s first BTech batch had begun on August 1, 2015. A total of 40,071 students were admitted to various engineering colleges in 2015, of which, 4,967 students could not reach up to semester 8 and overall 2,010 students had dropped out. In the varsity results published in June, the first B tech batch secured a pass percentage of only 36.41 per cent.
Most failures were in self- financing colleges. Of the 12,803, who passed the examination, 511 students became eligible for B Tech Honours.
In the last batch of the previous system, 10,000 students out of 37,391 who had enrolled in the engineering and technology programme had failed in 2016-17.