Calcutta University has announced the admission regulations and syllabus of the four-year undergraduate programme for BA, BSc and BCom with an exit option after completion of the second, fourth and sixth semesters.
The regulations say students obtaining CGPA (cumulative grade point average) equivalent to 75 per cent marks after successful completion of all the first six semesters “may opt for honours with research degree course in the 7th and 8th semester”.
“Students choosing a 4-year bachelor’s degree (single major with research course) are required to take up research projects under the guidance of a faculty member. The students shall have to complete the research in the 7th and 8th semester of 4 credits and 8 credits respectively (total 12 credits)”, say the regulations signed by university registrar Debasish Das.
The students who will exit after the second semester, fourth semester and sixth semester will get a certificate, diploma and graduate degree respectively.
CU, which affiliates 140-odd undergraduate colleges, came up with the regulations days before the start of the undergraduate admission process from July 1.
The university has also come up with a three-year BA, BSc and BCom programme, comprising multidisciplinary courses for students who earlier pursued “general courses”.
“Many colleges enrol students who pursue general courses. To accommodate such students, the three-year BA, BSc and BCom programmes have been introduced,” said Das.
Before the implementation of the new programme in compliance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the honours programme spanned three years. Now, an honours course will be of a four-year duration.
A CU official said a student enrolling for a four-year undergraduate degree spread over eight semesters (honours/honours with research) will have to study a combination of major and minor subjects apart from multi-disciplinary, ability enhancement, skill enhancement and value-added courses. They have to undergo an internship too.
The major course means the subject in which the degree will be awarded, for instance, a BSc (honours/honours with research) in physics.
The university has uploaded the category of subjects within the regulations.
A discipline-specific core course (DSCC) is one that is to be compulsorily studied by a student as a core requirement of the major subject.
“A subject of the same broad discipline to be studied by the student with a lesser number of courses other than the major subject will be known as a minor subject,” said a CU official.
Ability enhancement course (AEC) courses are based on the knowledge of languages. “There shall be two such courses: a) Compulsory English b) MIL/ Alternative English,” says the regulations.
A broad outline of skill enhancement courses, practical/ tutorial, common value-added courses and inter-disciplinary courses, has also been uploaded.
Shymalendu Chatterjee, president of the All Bengal Principal Council, said the colleges might need more time to prepare their admission portals. “The admission process should be deferred by a week.”
Last updated on 25 Jun 2023
