Revised graduation curriculum from next year

From the coming academic year, there will be a revised curriculum for graduation programmes in the state, where 50 per cent of the curriculum will be focussed on core subjects, 20 per cent on optionals (where students will be able to specialise in a specific area), 20 per cent will be focussed on diverse areas and 10 per cent will comprise project report, K C Reddy, chairman, Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE), said on the sidelines of ERA national conference on 'Optimising cost per hire "� a partnership approach' on Friday.

This means that BSc students will be able to take up social sciences as optionals under diverse areas and similarly students doing a graduation course in arts will be able to opt for basic science as an option as well.

Besides, the council is also contemplating starting a four-year graduation programme where one year will be focussed on imparting relevant industry skills in a specific sector.

"We are looking at introducing it in 30-40 autonomous colleges first and may then start this programme in other colleges as well," Reddy said.

This year, the number of Jawahar Knowledge Centres will also be increased to 50 from the present 32.

On the issue of 1,000 vacancies for faculty in the universities in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy said that a committee has been formed which will come out with recommendations with regard to staffing patterns.

"By the end of December, we hope that this issue is sorted out," he added.