Engineering students in the State will be spoilt for choice in the new academic curriculum put together by a revision committee headed by the Director of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, N.V. Ramana Rao.
Professors from IITs, NITs and State universities, the IT Adviser to the State government, the Executive Director of the AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), and experts from multi-national companies have put their heads together to design the new curriculum.
“We intend to implement it from this academic year (2020-21) for all B.Tech courses offered by the universities across the State,” Education Minister A. Suresh told The Hindu.
Besides regular B.Tech courses, there would be choices of B.Tech Honors and B.Tech Honors (with a Minor Degree).
Under B.Tech Honors, students scoring a CGPA of 7.5 and above can opt for additional courses of up to 20 credits (four extra courses / subjects and two online courses through Massive Open Online Courses -MOOCS / National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning - NPTEL)
The B.Tech Honors (with a Minor Degree) is for students who want to pursue a course of their interest other than the chosen discipline of engineering.
For instance, a student pursuing Mechanical Engineering can also opt for subjects from the Civil Engineering stream to secure a Major Degree in Mechanical Engineering along with a Minor Degree in Civil Engineering.
Mandatory internship
Explaining the mandatory internship that aims at making the students industry-ready, Mr. Suresh said a student would dedicate 10 months for hands-on learning (two months after second year, two months after third year and six months in the final year-second semester).
The two summer internships of two months duration at the end of the second and third years could be done at any of the local industry, a government organisation, construction agency, industrial estate, hydel and thermal power projects, or in a software company.
The internship after the second year will be a community service project.
Thrust on upskilling
Pointing out that upskilling was a focus area, Mr. Suresh said, out of the five courses designed, two would be skill-oriented related to the domain area and would be completed in the second year. The remaining three would be soft skills.
“A pool of inter-disciplinary job-oriented skill courses, prepared by a Joint Board of Studies, will be integrated into the curriculum of each branch of engineering from which a student can pick his choice,” said the Minister.
The student would also have the option of choosing between skill advanced courses offered by the college and a certificate course offered by the industry, a professional body, the APSSDC, or any other accredited body, he explained.
