CHENNAI: After nearly 20 years, Anna University is likely to come out with a new syllabus for engineering colleges on August 18. The State’s primary technical university had launched a massive exercise earlier this year to revamp the curriculum to make engineering students more employable.
According to university officials, the new syllabus will be approved at the Academic Council meeting scheduled to be held on August 12. “On Monday, we have a meeting to decide the agenda of the council meeting. We will announce the new syllabus by August 18,” Vice-Chancellor R Velraj said.
Big changes are expected as the university aims to bridge the gap between industry needs and students’ skill by removing obsolete content and incorporating industry-relevant topics.
‘Average students will also benefit’
The curriculum will be diversified and flexible and will encourage students to pursue research too. “The new syllabus has been designed to benefit even average students as it focuses more on competencybased education.
Along with the course content, even new teaching-learning methodologies have been developed for each course to improve understanding. “The new syllabus will lay emphasis on internship and projects so that students can acquire practical skills too,” faculty members said.
The university conducted brainstorming sessions with industry experts and academicians to chalk out the new syllabus. Patronage for courses like civil engineering and mechanical engineering has been falling as the syllabus for these courses has become obsolete.
Many private engineering colleges, however, feel Anna University should have announced the new syllabus a little earlier. “The new academic session for second semester students is likely to start in August last week, and there is hardly any time for faculty to prepare for teaching these new courses to students,” said K Prakash, principal of a private engineering college.