Odisha varsities to adopt semester, grade system from 2015-16

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 13:

Following the recent mandate of University Grants Commission (UGC), the Odisha government will implement semester and grading system from 2015-16 year in all universities and degree colleges of the state.

Preparations for the introduction of the new system had started recently at the conference of vice chancellors of universities of the state. As per the decision taken at the meeting, the division system will be abolished from all universities and degree colleges and the performance of the students will be evaluated in grades instead.

There will be different letters denoting grades for different brackets of scores: 90.1 to 100 marks will be O (Outstanding), 80.1 to 90 will be A+ (Excellent), 70.1 to 80 will be A (Very Good), 60.1 to 70 will be B+ (Good), 50.1 to 60 will be B (Above Average), 50 to 55 will be C (Average), 40 to 50 will be P (Pass) and below 40 will be graded F (Fail) or AB (Absentee).

The curriculum will be divided into multiple semesters. Students will be promoted to the next semester after appearing in the examination of the semester they are in and clearing them.

Choice-based credit system (CBCS) and semester wise examination pattern will also be implemented from the academic year 2015-2016. Following this move, 60% of the core papers for students will be mandatory while 40% will be optional (electives).

The CBCS will allow students to take up courses of their choice, undergo additional courses and earn more than the required credits. This system will expose students to more options, even those unrelated to their chosen subjects. This move has been implemented after noticing the faltering performance of students in papers other than their core subjects in civil services examinations.

While universities will manage these systems autonomously, the Higher Education department will cooperate with the universities in case of degree colleges.

It may be noted that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had last week asked 400 universities across India to introduce semester courses and grade system from the next academic session. The decision was taken at a meeting held between the Human Resources and Development Minister Smriti Irani and state education ministers, following which Ved Prakash, UGC Chairman had sent a written communication to all Vice Chancellors to implement CBCS.