Students seeking admissions in engineering colleges affiliated with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H) will have a range of subjects from this academic year as the university has revamped the syllabus and the examination system as per the All India Council Technical Education (AICTE) guidelines.
After decades of an annual examination system, engineering students in Telangana will have semester system in place according to which, they will have to appear for examinations twice a year. Officials believe that the semester system will make engineering students in Telangana more serious about the course.
The university is also introducing a Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) from this year onward under which students will have a range of core and elective subjects that they can choose from. “Under CBCS, students have the freedom to choose a few subjects as electives apart from the core subjects in their particular field of specialisation. This means a student studying mechanical engineering can choose any subject from computer science or aeronautical engineering under CBCS,” said BN Bhandari, director of academic planning in JNTU-H.
While the credit system will be the same, the university has fixed 90 instructional days for each semester. A total of 24 credits will be allocated for every semester. Even the evaluation system will have certain changes as per the credit system. “Until last year, the performance of students was accessed based on the credits they got. This year, the university will be grading students on the credits that they get in their exams,” said Bhandari.
New syllabus has also been designed to match the changing system. The university has made a few subjects such as gender sensitisation, environmental studies and associate analytics and security analysts. The university is also planning to have subjects on industrial patents and copyrights. “In the new syllabus, few changes are being made as per the latest technology available in the market. Students will also be trained separately for the electives they choose as per the new syllabus,” said Bhandari.
While classes for all the engineering students in Telangana will begin from August 2, the university is yet to finalise on the syllabus. The designed syllabus has to be approved by the executive senate after which it will be pushed for publication.