The Hindu : Front Page : Re-orientation of undergraduate courses planned

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Thursday, Sep 21, 2006
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Re-orientation of undergraduate courses planned

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: K.V. SRINIVASAN

CHANGE IN OFFING: Education Minister K. Ponmudi interacting with students at Kumara Rani Meena Muthiah college in Chennai on Wednesday. Annamalai Muthiah of the college's governing body is also in the picture.

CHENNAI: Vice-Chancellors of all universities in Tamil Nadu will meet here on September 27 to discuss "re-orienting the curriculum of undergraduate courses " to provide all students IT and communication skills, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi said on Wednesday.

Short-term apprenticeship for undergraduate arts and science course students before they become eligible for degrees would be one of the issues, he said.

"Skills in IT and communication are critical for students even in arts and science courses. Whether we need to admit them in job-oriented courses or give them I.T related skills is something to be discussed,"Mr. Ponmudi said during an informal chat with reporters.

Tamil Nadu is considering a proposal to introduce internship for B.E/B.Tech students on the lines of house surgeon training for MBBS and BDS students.

Earlier, he addressed the 10th anniversary celebrations of Kumara Rani Meena Muthiah College and inaugurated an industry-institute interaction meet organised by the Commerce department at Adyar here.

He said most of college entrants wanted to pursue higher education only for getting jobs. But communication skills had become critical. While rural and urban students had the same intelligence level, the former were unable to express themselves at job interviews. Noting that the world was becoming competitive, Mr. Ponmudi said history books did not mention India while discussing the agrarian or industrial revolution. "Today, one cannot record history without India's role in the IT revolution."

He urged students to send their suggestions on the kind of changes they wanted. When one student wanted photocopies of earlier examination answer sheets given free, Mr. Ponmudi said such pleas could be considered. But a fee was necessary to regulate the number of persons seeking photocopies. Only those with a genuine need for them should get the copies, he said.

College principal P.V. Madhavi highlighted the college's growth in the past 10 years.

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