359 colleges under Odisha’s Utkal Varsity to start CBCS from 2015-16

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 23:

As per the guidelines set by UGC, all 359 colleges under Utkal University of Odisha will start Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) from year 2015-16.

The guidelines have been made mandatory by UGC for colleges to be eligible for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation and UGC grant.

However, the colleges under Utkal University don’t seem prepared for it yet. In a conference of principals, the push for implementation of CBCS by Higher Education Minister Pradeep Panigrahy was met with reservations by the principals.

“It is not possible to implement CBCS due to lack of infrastructure, teaching and non teaching staff,” said the principals. However, the minister has urged the principals to accept the system and ensure quality education.

The choice-based credit system (CBCS) will offer a flexible approach to study as it will enable a student, enrolled with a particular course, to opt for and earn elective credits in other subjects of choice. For example, the science students can opt for Arts or Commerce classes and vice-versa. The CBCS will also enable part-completion of an academic course in the institution of enrolment and the other part in a specialised institution.

Credit system will also be implemented for three-year courses. There would be 128 credits for the three years. The attendance and performance of the students will be considered before evaluation. Also, the internal marks will be added to the results in the main examination to encourage better attendance of students in classes.

As per this system, all students opting for +3 will be eligible for an honors paper. If a student secures more than 50%, ‘honors’ will be mentioned in the certificate and ‘pass’ will be mentioned if they secure less than 50%. The OPGA system will be implemented from 2017-18.

However, the students passing out in the next two years will have grades and divisions. Marks over 90% will be marked as O grade, 80-90% as A grade, 65-80% as B grade, 50-65% as C grade, 30-50% as D grade and below 30% will be considered as ‘Fail’.

As per sources of Utkal University, there are 359 colleges affiliated to Utkal University and 157 colleges that are not. The affiliation of colleges that have not been able to come up with permanent campuses, have failed to hire the required faculties and to put in place the infrastructure in the past seven years, will be cancelled. A joint team of Higher Education Department and Utkal University will conduct raids to verify the preparedness.

Also, the +2 and +3 colleges will be separated from next year to ensure quality education.