New UG courses by Manonmaniam Sundaranar University outdated, claim professors
TIRUNELVELI: Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) N Chandrasekar, in his introductory note in the meeting of 54th Standing Committee on Academic Affairs (SCAA) on Thursday, said the university would introduce UG B.Sc. programmes in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Cyber Security, and Data Science from the academic year 2023-24.
Chandrasekar said an MoU was signed with Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU), paving the way for the sharing of resources between the two universities for the three courses. "The BoS has completed the task of designing the curriculum with the template of Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) for the proposed courses. We have also taken an initiative to introduce a Post Graduate programme in Archeology in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India," said the V-C.
He stated that from the next academic year, 'School System' will also be introduced by clubbing related university departments with a school chairperson. "MSU bagged 83rd position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking. MSU-affiliated VOC College in Thoothukudi secured 27th position in the same list. We have taken adequate steps for the re-accreditation process through NAAC," he added.
TANSCHE syllabus lacks quality?
Meanwhile, some professors-cum-chairmen of BoS alleged they were not given time in the 30-minute SCAA meeting to express their concerns. They alleged that the syllabus of TANSCHE, which has been adopted by the university for various courses, is outdated.
Pointing out that TANSCHE had consulted professors in 2018 when its syllabus was prepared, S Samuel Asir Raj, BoS chairperson of Sociology, said the recently prepared syllabus has many errors. "Some syllabuses of UG programmes repeat in PG programmes also. They are in the elementary level and some parts of them are not related to the core subject of these courses," he added. A meeting chaired by him, on June 7, passed a resolution for the continuation of the existing syllabus.
BoS of Plant Science Department, chaired by P Ravichandran, also held a meeting and recommended modifications in the TANSCHE syllabus. "There was no discussion on the TANSCHE syllabus in the SCAA meeting," said Ravichandran.
Speaking to TNIE, V-C Chandrasekar said BoS chairmen did not express their views in the SCAA meeting in the prescribed time. The meeting agenda was also shared with the chairmen prior to the discussion, he added.