Restructured courses to roll out for college students

Government attempts to customise curriculum as part of academic reforms under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan

Recognising the need to transform college education system and usher in social, economic and cultural changes necessary to realise national goals, the government has embarked on a drive to accelerate the process of modernising the sector and cultivate social, moral and spiritual values among students.

Academic reforms are all set to roll out under the Centrally-sponsored RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan) in the form of new restructured courses.

Subject committees constituted for the purpose with 45 lecturers from base (conventional) subjects to identify and design new market-oriented courses met for the first time in November last year. The panel members then went around the State meeting representatives of the local industry, commercial outlets and other organisations and professionals to study the market needs, job scenario and other related factors that could be addressed through the new courses. They then compiled the collected information.

This was followed by an industry-academia meet in January at the Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada where the contents of the compendium were discussed threadbare.

A draft of syllabi-curricula for the proposed courses was submitted to the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) which had constituted another committee with its members drawn out of different universities.

The Council approved 25 of the 29 recommended courses and the approved syllabi was sent to universities and autonomous colleges for implementation from the current academic year (2017-18).

CBCS pattern

The syllabi of the restructured courses is framed on the basis of the University Grants Commission-designed Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS), to find universal acceptance and equivalence on par with general education that can give vertical mobility to students aspiring for higher studies.

The new courses are being implemented in all autonomous colleges (14 government and 27 private aided colleges) from this academic year while the Commissionerate of College Education is toying with the idea of introducing it in non-autonomous colleges in government sector also.

Training

Industry experts will impart training to over 350 faculty members from different colleges in the new courses at the APHRD, Bapatla from Monday (July 23 to August19). “Every session will be video recorded and uploaded into the Academic Pedagogical Evaluation Portal of the Collegiate Education. These video lessons will be made available to students in their mobile phones and they can access them whenever they want,” said G.S. Panda Das, Special Commissioner, College Education.

Mr. Das said in the next phase, text books would be prepared by subject experts for each course and the content would be standardised.