A renewed and rejuvenated curriculum and pedagogy await students in colleges and universities in the ensuing academic year as the Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE) is ready to roll out innovative programmes designed to engage and empower the young learners.
After several rounds of discussions with experts from various walks of life on key issues such as student engagement, instructional design, online education, classroom management, educational assessment, teaching with technology, faculty development and much more, the APSCHE has zeroed in on a two-pronged strategy of improving the governance and revitalising the curriculum by making it more meaningful.
‘Way ahead of NEP’
The new National Education Policy (NEP) says no to rote model of learning. “We are way ahead of the NEP,” says K. Hemachandra Reddy, Chairman of the Council, reminding that Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had spoken about inclusion of one year of internship in the degree course much before the NEP was rolled out.
A student will have a choice to pursue a three-year or a four-year degree course, comprising a 10-month-long mandatory internship.
“One of the two projects they take up will have to be related to the community. They will have to identify a problem in the community and work out a solution to it,” explains Mr. Hemachandra Reddy.
Internship
Interestingly, all government departments, whether it is the Collectorate, the tahsildar office, the Irrigation office, the APSRTC, or the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation will offer internship to the students.
“A committee will be established under the chairmanship of the Collector, which will map the possible areas in the district. The Collector will be approached by the institutions seeking internship for their students,” Mr. Hemachandra Reddy explains.
To enable the students to gain a hands-on experience, 20% of the courses have been converted into skill enhancement and skill development component.
“The focus is on flexibility while designing the skill programmes with the active involvement of organisations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and BSNL,” he says.
Referring to the credit exchange facility, he says that a student of college ‘X’ desiring to pursue a course of his interest offered by college ‘Y’ will be allowed to attend classes and take the exam in college ‘Y’ and carry the credits back to college ‘X’, where he or she will be counted in the total number of credits for awarding the degree. “The NEP also talks about credit bank,” he says.
Importance has also been given to integration of society into the academia, he adds.
