Kerala University (KU) is gearing up to launch the first four-year undergraduate (UG) programme among State-run universities in Kerala.
Despite its initial plan to offer four such courses, the university has dialled down its ambitions by deciding to pilot a BA Honours (Politics and International Relations; Economics or History) with Research degree alone this year.
Vice-Chancellor in-charge Mohanan Kunnummal says the university has been forced to revise its decision since it ran short of preparatory time. Besides, it chose to focus on one course and learn from its possible shortcomings before laying the ground for a full-scale implementation of four-year UG programmes in the university and its affiliated colleges next year. With the regulations and syllabus for the chosen programme finalised, the notification for the admission process will be issued on September 11. The course will have an intake of 30 students.
The programme, being spearheaded by the Department of Political Science, will have two broad pathways, i.e., three-year UG degree (students will be able to exit after three years with a BA degree) and four-year degree (Honours) with Research. Candidates with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 7.5 or above in the first six semesters of the programme will be eligible to join the honours programme with research in the fourth year. Students will have to obtain at least 208 credits to fulfil the minimum requirement for the programme.
The course will essentially have four components – foundational courses, discipline-specific major, discipline-specific minor, and research component with dissertation, internship and field surveys.
It envisages a fair degree of academic flexibility by enabling students to choose one major specialisation from among Politics and International Relations, Economics and History after the third semester. The university will also provide four options for students to choose the requisite Indian language component. The university currently has four language teaching departments, viz., Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and Sanskrit. Similarly, the students will also be able to choose between Geography, basic sciences and Mathematics for their foundation course.
Sources also point out that the course could also prove instrumental in moulding students for the Civil Service examination. Some of the discipline-specific core areas that have been lined up for Major specialisations include Indian Constitution, modern Indian history, micro and macro economics, India’s foreign policy, Indian administration, Kerala’s political economy and international relations.
Besides, some of the electives on offer will include global governance, public policy, United Nations, gender politics, human rights, science and technology in international relations, international and national security, media and politics, disaster management, e-governance, development economics, public finance and modern banking.
