CHENNAI: Anna University is planning a major overhaul of its syllabus from next year to equip students according to industry needs. The move aims to make students more employable, and also to give the right guidance and support to the engineering students who want to pursue research and higher education. Speaking to TNIE, R Velraj, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, said, “The new syllabus will be more diversified, will provide more flexibility to the students, and give them more choices.”
He explained that the requirements for students who want to pursue research and higher studies are different from those who want to excel in administrative services or engineering industry works. “Our idea is to accommodate the needs of all three types of students in the new syllabus,” said Velraj.
Currently, almost 90 per cent of the course is mandatory and the variation in course that a student can choose is hardly 10 per cent. “After implementation of the new syllabus, only 40 per cent of the course will be mandatory; students can select up to 60 per cent of variation in their courses,” added Velraj.
For example, a student willing to go for research can select subjects taught in Master’s degree as their honours subject in the Bachelors level itself for better understanding. Similarly, those who want to write the Civil Services exam can opt for courses like Public Policy and Economics as their minor programme, explained the vice-chancellor.
As the first step towards the goal, the syllabus of the first-year students in affiliated colleges have been revised, and will be implemented from the new academic session this year. University officials said the process is on for revamping the syllabus of second year, third year and fourth year courses for affiliated colleges, Anna University campus colleges, and constituent colleges, and that it would be completed within six to eight months. Organisations like L&T, Ford, Mahindra & Mahindra, CII, NASSCOM are providing their expert opinion to the university in this regard.
Students to have the option to choose: V-C
According to Vice-Chancellor R Velraj, almost 90 per cent of a course is mandatory for students now. In the new syllabus, this would be reduced to 40 per cent, allowing students to take more subjects of their choice