As engineering students are all set to begin their course, a new but interesting change awaits them. They may start by interacting with an expert unrelated to their course, or play a game with seniors, or engage in a free-wheeling talk with a mentor or pursue their interests in co-curricular activities.
For the first three weeks, they would not go through the rigmarole of classroom academics, but would be exposed to learning the basic skills, understanding their college and the course, and listening to experts on variety of issues before they actually open the textbooks.
“Unlike their predecessors, the students will learn a lot more from this year, and not just from the books. This is part of the newly-introduced model curriculum suggested by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). JNTU Hyderabad has adopted it and has prepared the new curriculum accordingly,” said B.N. Bhandari, director of Academic and Planning at JNTU-H.
Similarly, the OU College of Engineering (OUCE) has prepared the syllabus to suit the new curriculum. “The idea is to instil confidence among students about engineering, make them understand the course and the need to acquire several new skills that they do not get exposed to till 12th class apart from the subjects they have,” said Uma Maheshwar, professor of mechanical engineering and placement officer of OUCE.
As per the new curriculum, the focus is on seven key aspects – physical activity, creative arts, human values, literary aspects, proficiency modules, expert lectures and familiarisation of the departments. Earlier, academic activities would start from day one followed by regular lectures. To lessen the burden on students, credits have also been reduced from 196 to 160.
The three-week induction programme apart, the course curriculum itself has undergone several changes. Emphasis is being laid on principles of physics, that plays a key role in understanding the foundation of engineering courses. English would be another focus subject as it has emerged a global communication tool. Students would be imparted lessons on linguistic and communication skills.
“Since the industry is looking at multi-skilled professionals with knowledge on emerging technologies, students will have the option of studying credit courses from other streams,” said A. Venugopal Reddy, Vice-Chancellor of JNTU-H.
Apart from choosing six electives within the concerned stream, they can choose three electives from other streams.
So electrical students can choose from computer science branch and those from the computer science can choose from civil engineering or whatever that interests them.
