Raise elegibility for MFC course: Panel

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25: A sub-committee of the Faculty of Business and Management constituted to look into the problems facing the Master of ...

CHANDIGARH, Feb 25: A sub-committee of the Faculty of Business and Management constituted to look into the problems facing the Master of Finance and Control MFC course of the Punjab University PU has recommended raising the eligibility criteria for the course and immediate revision of the syllabi. The recommendations were made during the final meeting of the committee held on Monday at the PU.

Another important recommendation of the committee includes setting up of a special cell in the Department of Correspondence Studies to deal exclusively with MFC, in accordance with its status of quot;a professional course with a relatively high fee,quot; sources said.

The meeting was attended by Prof Bidhi Chand, committee chairman and Dean of the Faculty, Sneh Mahajan, Principal MCM DAV College, Dr Jagwant Singh of the GGDSD College, Shashi Gupta of the DAV College, Dr R.K. Gupta, of the Department of Correspondence Studies, Dr R.P. Gupta of the University Business School and Jarnail Singh, fellow of the university.

The committee8217;s recommendation will come up before the meeting of the faculty in March. The committee has suggested raising the eligibility criteria to 50 per cent for commerce graduates and 55 per cent for those from the non-commerce streams, in order to quot;improve the quality of intake of studentsquot;, sources said.

quot;There were also complaints that some lessons were despatched as late as April last year for the exams due to begin in May. The committee has now fixed October 31 and December 15 for the despatch of the two instalments of lectures. For smooth despatch and printing of lectures on time, we have suggested that 10 per cent of the fee collected be diverted into a contingency fund to be utilised for the purpose,quot; a committee member said. The committee has also recommended that the syllabi be immediately reviewed and revised by the PG Board of Studies, sources added.

The committee was constituted in March last year after the course ran into rough weather with several complaints pouring in.

The course of MFC which was initiated by the PU authorities with much fanfare has created embarassing situations for the university. The pass per centage of the course is very low and students have complained of irregular despatch of course material as well as the personal contact programme. The issue of coaching academies offering instructions for the MFC course and the university ignoring this menace has been the most controversial aspect about the course.