New@JNTU: Quit midway, rejoin; take R&D break

HYDERABAD: Students entering JNTU-H colleges in the new academic year will have a flexibility that was unheard of by their seniors. They will be allowed to take a break mid-course and return at a later date. Or, they can take a year’s break to work on R&D or product development and return to complete their course.

Students can opt to take a couple of courses online to reduce their workload. More of their marks will be evaluated internally. They will also have a choice of placement-oriented courses, worth 18 credits.

All these changes are being made from the academic year 2022-23, to begin later this year, and will be in line with the New Education Policy. The university decided on these changes after a brainstorming session that ended on Saturday.

Asked about the reforms, third year engineering student who did not want to be named said that the changes would make it better for students.

“The multiple entry and exit policy would especially help poor students who may want to discontinue the course. I myself wanted to drop out after my second year due to financial issues,” the student said.

The student also said that giving the option to study one or two courses online was a good idea, as they usually did not want to attend classes for every subject.

JNTUH registrar Dr Manzoor Hussain said JNTUH would be the first institute in Telangana to introduce some of these measures. He said the varsity would implement the multiple exit and entry policy, as prescribed in the NEP, wherein BTech students can exit a four-year course after two years and obtain a diploma. They can return and complete the course later.

Students also have the option of taking a year’s break after their second or third year to work on research and development or product development for any organisation, if they get any offer.

Additionally, in practicals, students will have to complete a lab project. “Instead of performing an experiment and taking readings, students will have to do a project and will have to come up with the topic themselves,” said Dr Hussain.

The ratio of weightage of internal and external marks has been changed, with the weightage for internal marks increased from 30 to 40 per cent. “We will carry out continuous evaluation, and provide weightage for paper presentation, group discussion, etc,” the registrar said.

In another move intended to bring in flexibility, students will be permitted to transfer 30 per cent of their workload online by taking either one or two courses online. Internships have been made mandatory for students, and they will have to do them at the end of their second or third year.

The varsity will introduce placement-oriented courses, in addition to the usual courses, worth 18 credits, which will be in a different field than the branch that the student is studying.

The varsity changed the curriculum every two years but the process was delayed this time due to the pandemic, Dr Hussain said.

To decide on the changes, the institute had invited faculty from IITs and NITs, industry representatives and alumni to Joint Board of Studies meetings that ended on Saturday.