Now, UGC to keep centre, dept-wise tab on syllabus revision
Taking forward its mission of ensuring updated and current knowledge gets imparted to students in the country, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to set up a dedicated database with relevant information of all varsities.
The higher education regulatory body’s proposed database will have all relevant information regarding revision of syllabi for its perusal.
To make this possible, the commission has asked all varsities to instruct their deans (academic affairs) or equivalent authority concerned to send duly filled pro forma detailing last syllabus revision of courses for each department and centres provided by it through email within the next two weeks.
The pro forma requires institutions to list out its various departments and centres specifying each course offered as well as the date of the last revision of the syllabus undertaken for the programmes.
Through a missive dated March 15, 2017, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu has requested the vice chancellor of all universities including that of Allahabad University (AU) to personally look into the issue and ensure that the required data are sent to UGC well in time of the set deadline. The move is a follow up of UGC’s earlier instruction to all universities throughout the country under its ambit to ensure compliance with its letter on the revision of syllabi of courses upgraded and reviewed every three years for making them more skill oriented and interdisciplinary with a purpose of making the students employable.
The directive issued is focused on ensuring employability of students in a fast changing world. It directs universities to assess the current and prospective demand for skill sets in various industries, alter and upgrade their programmes accordingly to make the students better equipped and ready for the job market, said vice chancellor of Uttar Pradesh Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU), prof MP Dube.
The UGC through its January 31, 2017, letter had asked all universities to take ‘immediate action’ to review and revise their curricula, he added.
This had come days after a group of secretaries recommended, during their meeting with the prime minister, that the curricula of all academic departments in universities across the country should be reviewed and revised at least once in every three years. The UGC had also asked the VCs to accord top priority to the matter and take immediate action .