Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), which is gearing up for implementation of National Education Policy (NEP-2020) from the current academic year, is set to provide quality technical courses on a par with IIT, NIT, and BSc courses similar to that of Indian Institute of Science (IISc.,Bengaluru).
In a virtual meeting convened by C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Minister of Higher Education and IT/BT and S&T on Monday, B. Karisiddappa, Vice-Chancellor of VTU, Belagavi, stated this while apprising the Minister of the status of implementation of NEP.
During the meeting the Minister sought to know the major changes introduced as per NEP-2020. To this, the Vice-Chancellor said ability enhancement courses had been added to make students globally competitive. A subject called ‘scientific foundations of health’ has been introduced to emphasise the importance of health and wellness. Open book examination will be introduced in certain design courses. Open electives will be made more dynamic and the regulations with regard to Board of Studies (BOS) will be relaxed to facilitate taking timely decisions regarding revamping of curriculum and introduction of new courses.
The Vice-Chancellor also said: “Taking into consideration the importance of engineering in recent global medical technology, a subject called ‘biology for engineers’ has been introduced in the 4th semester. ‘Environment studies’ and ‘Music and Mechanical Vibrations’ had been added. Twenty-four weeks of internship will be made mandatory for engineering courses where in students will also have opportunity to go abroad and multidisciplinary internships will be encouraged.
Saying that the concept of Major and Minor Degrees will be brought in, he added that four colleges have come forward to teach B.E. courses in the regional language medium- Kannada- and approval is awaited from the Department of Higher Education.
