What can be more blissful that getting an opportunity to set your own course and exam when in college? This bliss is precisely what students in NIT Trichy get to enjoy. NIT-Trichy introduced the concept of flexible where the students can choose, with the consent of their professors, the time for their classes, tests and other activities.
Unlike many other engineering colleges, NIT-Trichy doesn’t dictate rules or confine students in the first year to a strict time table. “The idea was to give the students flexibility in timings so that they can have the freedom to choose what they want to do in their spare time,” said Professor Raja, Co-ordinator, NIT-Trichy. The spare time however is not meant to be whiled away in blasé pursuits. NIT Trichy also offers students a choice to pursue a subject from other departments like architecture, design and even non-technical subjects like music. These are of course a part of their credit courses, but what stands out is that inter disciplinary courses too can be selected.
The students do find this very convenient. “The freedom to take the courses in the morning and lab classes in the evening or vice versa gives the students time to plan. The flexibility to pursue subjects from other courses is also very motivating,” says a first-year student from Electrical Engineering.
This freedom also extends to having a say in deciding the exam time table in consultation with their professors.
There is however a section of the students who find it hard to handle the freedom. “The problem with this system is that if we have our labs and classes in just one day, and a professor decides to conduct a test the next day, students don’t get time to prepare. We then have to choose between studying and the elective course too,” says a first-year from Instrumentation and Control engineering department. The students have raised this concern with their professor, and have been told that a solution will come into effect in a few weeks time.
This flexibility has been introduced from this academic year at NIT Trichy. Though it was popularly accepted at the start, there are a few whiners who have been unable to handle the independence. After being accustomed to studying under strict time-tables all their lives, being given too much freedom has left the students in . Yet, sort flexibility does seem to be a good move. Giving students the freedom to make choices will definitely build capabilities which will prove useful for the students’ future.