Kerala’s higher education institutions are set to usher in four-year undergraduate programmes on July 1.
Providing students with a greater degree of freedom in customising their courses by opting for subject combinations of their choice, the four-year programmes will differ from the existing courses with an overhauled curricula that prioritise skill enhancement and overseas compatibility.
Higher Education Minister R. Bindu said here on Friday that the reform would enable students to pursue three broad pathways, viz., three-year UG degree, four-year UG honours degree, and four-year UG honours with research degree.
Students who choose to exit after three years will with awarded a UG degree in their respective major discipline after successfully completing the required minimum of courses of 133 credits.
A four-year UG honours degree will be awarded to those who complete the programme with a specific number of courses of 177 credits. Students who aspire to pursue research as a career can opt for the honours with research stream in the fourth year.
The new system will also facilitate inter-university transfers midway through one’s course period.
N-1 system
The four-year degree programme will also enable students to complete the programmes faster than the stipulated period by completing course requirements and obtaining the necessary credits in N-1 semesters (where N is the number of semesters in a UG programme). For instance, a student requiring a three-year UG degree can do so in two-and-a-half years, Dr. Bindu told mediapersons.
Elaborating on the flexibility in “designing” one’s own degree, she said the reform would enable students to break the shackles of conventional combinations to pursue subjects of their choice. Citing an example, she said students can choose to study Chemistry along with Physics and Electronics, or with liberal arts subjects such as Literature and Music.
Credits obtained through skill enhancement courses, internships and massive open online courses (MOOC) can be accumulated for one’s course requirement. The programmes will also usher in radical changes in the examination and evaluation system.
As much as 20% of the syllabi for all courses will be prepared by the teaching faculty themselves in the initial phase. The proportion will be revised in a phased manner.
The facility will enable the teaching community to revise syllabi and incorporate new content every year.-run universities will function in accordance with a uniform academic year this academic year onwards. The calendar has been formulated by a committee comprising the Registrars of all universities.
