Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Bharathiar varsity plans syllabus revision

Special Correspondent

`Boards of Studies expected to meet shortly'

G. Thiruvasagam. — Photo: K. Ananthan

Coimbatore: The Bharathiar University has decided to go in for a full-fledged revision of the syllabus of various courses, its Vice-Chancellor, G. Thiruvasagam, told a press conference here on Friday.

The Syndicate of the university, which met here recently, took a number of decisions including this. "The Boards of Studies are expected to meet shortly in this regard."

Dr. Thiruvasagam said that one among the major reforms he proposed to introduce was to request the Board of Studies for English to reduce the conventional teaching of prose and poetry and allocating 50 per cent of the teaching time for "communicative English."

"I have nothing against Shakespeare. But my mission is empowerment (providing all infrastructure), enrichment (improving curriculum) and employment to the students. Hence, I would like to concentrate on functional English as most of our students are found wanting when they attend campus interviews."

Another important reform would be to give up the "top-down planning approach." "A circular would be sent to all the colleges in the university that they could design courses of their choice, relevant to their region. Thus, it would be grassroots level planning. They should not only recommend but also design the course and submit to the university with syllabus. That course will also be considered by the university."

Best course

Besides, whichever was judged the best course would fetch the concerned teacher, the department and also the college a citation and certificate.

As the focus of the university was on ensuring employment, new courses, all computer relevant, had been granted to 21 colleges. In addition, from the next academic year, all those who have passed Plus Two could join B.Sc. Information Technology (IT) and also those who had graduated could join M.Sc. IT. "We want to break the myth that only those students with Mathematics base could join such courses."

The university would introduce B.Ed. correspondence course during the current calendar year. "Already we have M.Ed." Besides, steps would be initiated to expand Distance Education programme of the university.

He pointed out that as against the total strength of two lakh students in Annamalai University, 1.5 lakh students in Madurai Kamaraj University and 1.25 lakh students in Chennai University, the Bharathiar University had only about 10,000. "This is despite offering several courses."

The expansion of the Distance Education programme would not only augment the strength of the university and bolster its financial resources, but also would benefit the community in the Coimbatore region. "Hereafter, all those opting for distance education would get prepared lessons from the university (instead of prescribing books). This will be of immense help to the candidates."

At present, the varsity had 37 study centres and seven "off campus centres." "We want to open more study centres in various parts of the State."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Bharathiar varsity plans syllabus revision
RAAC plans to involve SHGs in `Alagana Kovai' project
Know all about farming
SIEMA plea on ESI contribution for job workers
Do you have a message of peace?
Aari work woos them
Wildlife week competitions
Support is the key word
In Coimbatore Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu