At a time when concerns have been raised about the selection of minor (subsidiary) courses for four-year undergraduate programmes (FYUGP) in colleges affiliated to the University of Calicut, the Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (KPCTA) has sought the setting up of Boards of Studies (BoS) in 33 programmes to address them.
Functionaries of the association said on Tuesday that the students pursuing these subjects as major (main) were at present forced to select minor courses from unrelated subjects because of the rules governing the FYUGP. This was happening because of the insistence of the authorities that the minor courses should be from a separate department and under a different BoS. A large number of students were being compelled to choose as minor courses subjects which they had not studied during their Plus Two courses.
In a memorandum to P. Raveendran, Vice-Chancellor, Senate members affiliated to the KPCTA demanded that the university take steps to constitute separate BoS for minor courses related to the 33 major programmes to solve the issue.
For example, there can be separate boards for the Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) programme and BCom (Professional) programme. It would help students who pursue normal BCom course choose minor courses from that stream. Likewise, separate boards can be set up for BA (Arabic) and BA (Functional Arabic) as well, they said.
Meanwhile, a six-member Syndicate committee appointed by the V-C to address the concerns of students related to the selection of minor courses is expected to submit its proposals later this week. The committee is reported to have suggested separate BoS for BA (Arabic) and BA (Functional Arabic) and for BA (Music) and programmes in Violin, Veena and Mridangam. However, it is also of the opinion that having BoS in all the 33 programmes could be impractical.
Published – July 29, 2025 07:42 pm IST
