Twenty-two undergraduate and postgraduate programmes offered under different nomenclatures by various affiliated colleges of the Bharathidasan University have been granted equivalent status to conventional degrees by the Department of Higher Education.
However, 29 other programmes await equivalent status to conventional degrees, pending approval from the department; members of the Standing Committee on Academic Affairs (SCAA) were informed on Friday.
Decision awaited
The university is awaiting the department’s decision, expected in the next few days, said E. Ramganesh, Director, Council for College and Curriculum Development. In the absence of certification of equivalence, students applying for government jobs face disqualification by Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and Teachers’ Recruitment Board.
Stating that M.Com (Bank Management) and M.Com (Financial Management) had already been considered equal to M.Com by the Higher Education Department, he sought the consent of the house for seeking the same status for MBM (Master of Bank Management) and MFM (Master of Financial Management).
Vice-Chancellor K. Meena said the university had obtained the clearance from the Higher Education Department for renaming M.Sc. Mathematics (with specialisation in Computer Applications) as M.Sc. Mathematics, and that the scope for extending the same principle at the undergraduate level would be explored in deference to requests made by principals of affiliated colleges.
Earlier, the university had been permitted to rename B.Sc. Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology as B.Sc. Botany, and efforts had been initiated to rename the programme likewise at the postgraduate level.
To be renamed
The university decided to rename B.A. Corporate Secretaryship as B.Com Corporate Secretaryship, Dr. Meena said.
B.B.A. (Super Speciality Program) with three papers based on industry expertise that was now offered by the university in distance education mode could be launched as regular coursework by affiliated colleges that comply with requirements.
Super speciality
The super speciality course that the university considers equal to BBA carries extra credits. Certificate and diploma courses offered through the university’s business development cell would be extended to affiliated courses as add-on programmes.
In her address, the Vice-Chancellor said the “world class curriculum development cells” established in the university was attuned to the State government’s Vision 2023 for enhancing quality of higher education.
Alongside designing, developing, reviewing, evaluating and re-engineering curriculum at UG and PG levels for enhancing employability, the cells would monitor the curriculum delivery, and strengthen choice-based credit system. The university would launch an exclusive web portal for curriculum development cells shortly, Dr. Meena said.
