Credit-based system at BU

The Bangalore University will introduce credit-based semester system from the current academic year (2014-15). The Academic Council of the varsity approved the proposal in its meeting on Tuesday.

 Speaking to reporters here after the meeting, Vice-Chancellor B Thimme Gowda said that the structure evolved by the varsity was not a new one and hence there would be no problem in implementing it.

The university will also introduce credits for extracurricular activities too. It will be a one-credit course for 50 marks, the VC said. Also, the university has planned to include skill development courses in the curriculum along with compulsory subjects such as the Environmental Science and the Indian Constitution. The existing subjects of Environmental Science and Indian Constitution have been modified as ‘Environmental Studies and Public Health’ and ‘Indian Constitution and Human Rights,’ respectively.

While students would have to study these two subjects along with the optional subjects they have chosen in the undergraduate course, the existing third additional subject in the third semester, Computer Fundamentals would be optional. Students can also choose among three skill development courses that will be introduced from next year.

The university will constitute monitoring committees to pay surprise visits to colleges. There will be one monitoring committee exclusively for BEd colleges and another for all other UG and PG colleges.

“There are complaints that several colleges hire lecturers and infrastructure for the day during the inspections while the college might not have the projected infrastructure. We will send the monitoring committee for surprise inspections to colleges suspected of irregularities,” the V-C said.

The Academic Council also renewed the affiliation of 54 BEd colleges and issued fresh affiliation to seven other colleges.