No degrees for engineering students with CGPA below 5 in Karnataka

Rule applies to B.E., B.Tech, and B.Arch courses under Choice Based Credit System

College managements and professors feel that this move will help students focus on their academics.

Engineering students who gave their final exams in July 2019 and are set to graduate will not get their degrees unless they have secured a Cumulative Grade Point Achievement (CGPA) of 5 or more. As per a circular, issued by the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on Thursday, this rule is applicable to students pursing B.E., B.Tech, and B.Arch programmes under the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), which was introduced in 2015.

This year will see the first batch of students getting their degrees under the CBCS. In the earlier system, students were awarded marks and had to pass all subjects to clear the examination. Now, however, besides passing all papers, they will have to secure a minimum CGPA of 5.

For the benefit of those who haven’t met the requirements, the university has made a provision of allowing them to appear again for the semester end examination either completely or in part. While they can reject their scores for the previous semester’s theory courses, it cannot be done for projects, practical examinations, technical seminars or internship.

The circular stated that students can do this for as many times they want — till the maximum duration of the course. The university has, however, decided to show the month and year the students passed the examination for each course in their marks sheet.

VTU has urged heads of departments to mentor students and ensure that they meet the requirements so that there is no delay in getting their degrees at the end of the programme.

Good move

College managements and professors feel it is a good move and will help ensure that students focus on their academics. “Students only study and learn from the perspective of examination. It is good to expect a minimum standard. In fact, it is fair because students get an opportunity to improve their scores by reappearing for their papers,” a faculty member said.

However, Rahul B., a engineering student said the student fraternity wanted the university to allow them to improve even their practical examinations and project scores as well. “If we are unable to get a CGPA of 5 by a small margin, it makes sense to improve our projects rather than prepare for the entire semester-end examination,” he said.