The University of Calicut is fast-tracking steps to launch four-year undergraduate programmes in its affiliated colleges from the next academic year. The plan is to have a curriculum in place by April.
According to official sources, the first draft of the new curriculum in courses such as history, business administration, physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, zoology, geology, botany, computer science, hotel management, commerce, biochemistry, and biotechnology is ready. Discussions to prepare the draft for some other courses are on too.
The sources said that the second phase of workshops on the new curriculum would be held in January. It would be placed before the boards of studies on various subjects for detailed discussions thereafter. Later, the faculty members would go through it. In the final phase, the curriculum proposal would be placed before the university’s academic council, which would clear the final draft. A notification on the new curriculum would be issued after this.
Meanwhile, autonomous colleges within the university’s jurisdiction too are likely to follow this curriculum. Discussions to launch four-year undergraduate courses in the teaching departments on the university campus are also simultaneously going on.
T. Vasumathi, Syndicate member in charge of implementing the courses, said that efforts were being made to complete the curriculum preparation by April first week so that the courses could be launched by June.
However, Senate members affiliated to the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League have already voiced apprehensions over practical problems in implementing multiple entry and exit options in these courses. They pointed out that though there was a plan to offer research facilities during the fourth year of the programme, no assessment had been made as of now on the infrastructure required for the purpose in terms of labs and research rooms. The skill-based and learner-centric approach of the new four-year programmes that focused on activity-oriented learning and learner participation might not work out, they said.
