Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy on Friday said all State universities have been advised to follow the common syllabus from the current academic year.
On the sidelines of the meeting with Vice-Chancellors of State universities in Chennai, the Minister said the details of the common syllabus for all subjects have been approved by the V-Cs as well.
Wherever new courses have been introduced a common syllabus would be framed and they would be implemented next year, he added.
“For instance, Bharathiar University has started a postgraduate course in Journalism and Mass Communication. For such new courses the syllabus will be prepared along with other universities offering the same course,” Mr. Ponmudy said. Other new courses are BSc Internet of Things and BSc Artificial Intelligence.
“In 2024-25, a common syllabus will be framed for these courses. This year over 90% of the content has been approved and sent to the universities. The content was sent to the Board of Studies and formal approval was received,” he said.
A common syllabus would benefit the students and the faculty who wish to move from one university to another. On reservations expressed by autonomous colleges, the Minister said the department proposed to invite autonomous college officials and understand their grievances.
All V-Cs were consulted while framing the common syllabus. The aim is to upgrade higher education, make it easy for students to move from one university to another and improve the universities’ standing in the National Institutional Ranking Framework, he averred.
He reiterated that language subjects will be the same for aided, government and autonomous colleges.
“All V-Cs have given suggestions on methods to improve performance in NIRF. We plan to institute a committee under the leadership of the Higher Education Secretary for this,” he added.
The universities had been instructed to follow a uniform method of appointing officials such as registrars and controllers of examination.
The Higher Education Department has increased the salaries of guest lecturers from ₹20,000 to ₹25,000, he announced. The guest lecturers had made several demands which would be considered in phases, he added.
Universities should have a common salary scheme for teaching and non-teaching staff. This would be discussed and put in place in August, he added.
The department has planned to conduct SLET this year. Discussion on which university would hold the test will be held shortly, he added.
