PU may bring in CBCS next session

“The matter is still under consideration with the Vice-Chancellor and various committees will be formed once it is tabled at the Senate meeting and gets a final approval,” said Dean University Instructions (DUI), Professor A K Bhandari. “If not for all the courses from this session, we will make sure to at least implement the Choice Based Credit System partially,” he added.

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PU Vice-Chancellor Professor Arun Kumar Grover had in the last Senate meeting also mentioned that a NAAC team had criticised PU for not having planned anything on the choice-based system.

Some senators, however, believe that it will be difficult to implement the CBCS for both undergraduate and post-graduate classes from this session onwards. They point out that the system is based on three types of courses – core, elective and foundation – the schedule for which would require a lot of time to prepare as all departments have to be taken into consideration.

Dean Students Welfare (DSW) Professor Navdeep Goyal, a senate member himself, says the system will take some time to implement.”

There are chances that the new system will be implemented partially from this year. We have to provide two things for it: one is to have Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) for all the courses which is the easier thing because UIET already has it while the second is to prepare a schedule and get approval from the respective faculty bodies on subject choices. For example, a science student needs two Arts subjects. It’s not an easy task and thus would need time,” Goyal added.

The core compulsory course will be mandatory while a core elective or allied course will also be available under the same discipline. As per the sources, an elective course would be chosen from a pool of courses and will be further subdivided into two categories: generic elective (subject-centred) and open elective courses (interdisciplinary).

The students will be evaluated through a Comprehensive Continuous Assessment (CCA), of which certain percentage of weightage will be given to the students at the end of the semester exams.

“It will not be possible for the University to implement the Choice Based Credit System for all the courses and that too from this session onwards. The University should plan it in a phased manner. First they should start with the Elective courses following with the Undergraduate courses and then the Post graduate,” said senate member Dalip Kumar.

The proposal of introducing the CBCS was part of the recommendations by the UGC to the higher education institutes. Earlier this year, UGC Chairperson Professor Ved Prakash had written a letter to the PU V-C in this regard.