Kerala govt panel recommends honours degree and integrated PG courses

NEW DELHI: The Kerala government constituted expert committee put forward its report to the higher education department. According to The New Indian Express, the report suggested changing the three year conventional degree to a four year honours degree and introduction of five year integrated PG programmes in government and aided colleges. The committee said it will ensure research capabilities for college and students in their degree programme.

The expert committee also recommended several changes in the present system of examinations in the colleges. It said that the examinations must not simply be held to check the memory of students and should also include creative assessment methods such as assignments, presentations and writing. The evaluation process must include all these methods.

The six member expert panel is formed by the government of Kerala and headed by Sabu Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi University.

The experts proposed that the colleges and universities having NAAC ‘A’ accreditation or above can offer honours degrees in subjects such as economics, history, biology, physics, chemistry, statistics and other subjects. The universities which are listed in top 50 ranks and colleges which are included in first 100 ranks of recently published National Institutional Research Framework ranking could also offer honours programmes.

The committee also suggested triple main degree courses in various arts and science subjects. With this, students can study three major subjects at a time and they can choose a suitable subject for the higher studies or post graduation programme.

New postgraduation courses

The committee put forward a suggestion to start M.Tech programmes in subjects such as educational technology, fintech, autonomous systems, health science technology and nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Post graduate programmes in subjects such as data analytics, space science, forensic science, disaster management, geology, petroleum geology, artificial intelligence and robotics, space science, econometrics, international relations and politics, historical studies, anthropology, material culture studies, global history, gender studies and sexuality and comparative social research are also suggested in the report.

Recommendation for UG courses

A recommendation for opting a minor subject in the degree programme was also put forward in the report. Undergraduate programmes in subjects such as chemical biology, system biology, psychological and behavioral sciences, foreign language, international relations, modern biology, biological sciences, computational biology and globally recognized subjects such as nanoscience, space science, astrophysics, econometrics and data analytics are also recommended by the expert committee.

Internationally competent courses

The committee also came out with a suggestion of introducing some programmes which are competent to international courses. These programmes include Bachelor of design (Digital and Interactive Design), Bachelor of Sports Management (BSM), BA Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching, BA Modern Languages, Bachelor of Financial Markets, B.Sc Anthropology, B.Sc Material and Museum Anthropology, BA in Archaeology and Material Culture Studies, Bachelor of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology and BA in Rural Development and Development Studies.

Also read:

• SC Verdict on CBSE; Board Exams Cancelled for Class 10 and 12
• Shashi Tharoor urges Kerala CM to postpone state university exams

Write to us at news@careers360.com