Gujarat Technological University plans to overhaul its existing marking system for BE and diploma engineering courses to ensure more students get first class and
better placements.
In a move that will benefit lakhs of students, the varsity has decided not to include first and second year scores for final evaluation at the end of the fourth year from 2013.
For diploma students, only their second and third year scores will be included in the final marksheet.
Additionally, the cumulative performance index (CPI) of 6.75 has been reduced to 6.5 for a first class degree.
The changes are being made to give students access to greater job opportunities as companies chuck non-first class portfolios during placements.
QUALITY may SUFFER
While the ‘double benefit’ puts students at an advantage from employment perspective, quality of education is bound to take a beating, argue experts. This, because in several private universities offering BE course, the CPI of 6.5 is inclusive of performance in first two years (semesters 1 to 4), too.
“GTU students have had to work harder to secure a first class since we offer it only to those who have a CPI of 6.75. As compared to that, students of other universities are given a first class even with a CPI of 6.5.
So now, we too shall be considering CPI of 6.5 to award a first class.
We have also decided that only their performance in semesters 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be considered for CPI calculation. That takes away much of their worries, since most students find the first four semesters more difficult than the rest,” said GTU Vice Chancellor Akshai Aggarwal.
He added, “English being the language of instruction, students from Gujarati medium find it difficult to cope with the course in the first few semesters. By the time they get a hang of it, a lot of them are struggling with an ATKT. So even if they fare well in the third and fourth year, the performance in the first two years makes their overall score look poor. It makes them lose out on opportunities for higher studies and dims their career prospects.”
FOCUS ON SPECIALISATION
Now that the first two years will be done away with while calculating the aggregate, students can pay more attention to their core (specialisation) subjects, say teachers.
In the past 2-3 years, colleges have lowered the eligibility criteria to admit even those who scored just 35 per cent. One cannot expect them to excel in these courses which are quite demanding. That is also the reason that prompted GTU to modify its marking system, said sources.
“GTU will adopt the new marking system in 2013. It will consider only semesters 5 to 8 to calculate the CPI. They will be given two marksheets — one for semesters 1-4 and the other for semesters 5-8. Also, when placements begin in semester 7, we will hand over semester 5 and 6 grade-sheets of our students to the companies. This way, more number of first class students will be considered for recruitment,” said a source.
BASICS WEAK
The proposal for the new system has been cleared by deans of different engineering disciplines of GTU. Now, it will be put in front of the executive council for clearance on Tuesday, said sources.
Kunal Bhoyania, placement officer at L D Engineering College said, “If changes are made in evaluation system, it will open a world of opportunities to the students. A CPI of 6.5 for a first class is quite achievable.”
However, it raises serious concerns on the quality of engineering education at GTU. “Students will not give much importance to fundamentals of engineering. Is that a way to go about it? They may benefit job wise. But of what use is half-baked knowledge?” argues an engineering college principal, requesting anonymity.
Director General of Nirma University N V Vasani said, “We consider the course grade points obtained by students for all courses taken since his/her admission to the programme. Else, the student will not take studies seriously.”
But Aggarwal rebuffs arguments about deterioration quality of education. “GTU’s course quality is higher than that of other universities. All we have to ensure is that classes are conducted as per schedule.” |
