Kerala to launch 4-year graduate programmes in July

KOCHI: Classes for the newly introduced Four-year Under Graduate Programmes (FYUGP) would begin on 1 July, according to Minister for Higher Education R Bindu.

Applications will be invited after May 20 for admissions to the new courses.

“The trial and final rank lists will be published by June 15 and admissions will start before June 20. Classes would begin on 1 July,” the minister told media persons.

The main attraction of the four programmes is that students would be able to design their course according to the latest academic-career trends.

Bin du said that while an existing graduate course makes it compulsory for a student to study Physics and Mathematics along with Chemistry, the new four-year programme allows the student to choose combinations such as chemistry-physics- electronics or Chemistry-literature- music or exclusively chemistry.

“Academic counsellors will be appointed in colleges to help the students choose the subjects of their interest,” said the minister.

FYUGP would allow students to exit after three years with a regular three-year undergraduate degree or with an Honours degree after four years.

Students opting for research in the fourth year would get aUG‘ Hon ours with Research’ degree.

Such students can directly join PHD programmes without a postgraduate degree.

Those with a four-year honours degree (without research in the final year) need to attend a one-year PG programme.

Those who exited after three years would have to attend the regular two-year PG programmes to pursue ph dre search .“moreover, academic ally bright students will also be able earn their degree after two-and-and-a-half years under the N-minus-one system,” said the minister.

The new programmes will also enable interuniversity transfer. Yet another advantage is the facility for students to pursue online courses along with the regular programme and utilize the credit earned to complete their regular/honours degrees.

According to the minster, each university will conduct a particular course in a different manner.

“A course will be designed by the student and teachers after elaborate discussions. Help desks too will be arranged in colleges and universities to address grievances and for doubt-clearance,” she said.

“Most of these facilities will be provided online. In addition, short-term job-oriented courses will be introduced to help students acquire the necessary skills to bridge the industry-academic gap ,” bin du said.

Meanwhile, state government has relaxed the stringent framework set by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the four-year ‘honours with research’ programmes that are set to make postgraduate programmes in the country redundant.