Vi. Choice Based Credit System (Cbcs) Regulations

VI. CHOICE BASED CREDIT SYSTEM (CBCS) REGULATIONS

What is CBCS?

Choice-Based Credit System is a flexible system of learning. ‘Credit’ defines the quantum of contents / syllabus prescribed for a course and determines the number of hours of instruction required. The distinguishing features of CBCS are the following:

It permits students to

• learn at their own pace
• choose electives from a wide range of elective courses offered by the University departments
• undergo additional courses and acquire more than the required number of credits
• adopt an inter-disciplinary approach in learning
• make best use of the expertise of available faculty

General Eligibility conditions for admission to Master’s Programme through formal education as per the UGC Regulations, 2003

No student shall be eligible for admission to a Master’s degree programme in any of the faculties unless he/she has successfully completed a three year undergraduate degree or earned prescribed number of credits for an undergraduate degree through the examinations conducted by a University /autonomous institution or possesses such qualifications recognized by the University of Madras as equivalent to an undergraduate degree.

In case of integrated Master’s Degree programmes of five or more years, no student shall be eligible for admission unless he/she has successfully passed the examination conducted by a Board / University at the Plus two level of schooling (either through formal schooling for 12 years or through open school system) recognized by the Central/State Government for this purpose or its equivalent.

1.Schools, Departments and Programmes

1.1There are 66 Departments of study and research in the University which are grouped into 17 schools. Most of these departments offer programmes at various levels under the CBCS. The programmes offered include:

Master’s Degree programmes

1. M. Phil. programmes
2. PG Diploma programmes
3. Diploma programmes
4. Certificate programmes

2.Courses

2.1A programme consists of a number of courses. A ‘Course’ is a component (a paper) of a programme. Every course offered by any University department is identified by a unique course code.A course may be designed to involve lectures / tutorials / laboratory work / seminar / project work / practical training / report writing / Viva voce, etc or a combination of these, to meet effectively the teaching and learning needs and the credits may be assigned suitably.

3.Semesters

3.1An academic year consists of two semesters.

Odd Semester (I and III Semesters): July to November

Even Semester (II and IV Semesters): December to April

3.2A semester normally extends over a period of 15 weeks. Each week has 30 hours of instruction spread over a 5 day week.

4.Credits

4.1Credit defines the quantum of contents / syllabus prescribed for a course and determines the number of hours of instruction required per week. Thus, normally in each of the courses, credits will be assigned on the basis of the number of lectures / tutorials / laboratory work and other forms of learning required to complete the course contents in a 15 week schedule:

1Credit = 1 hour of lecture per week (1 Credit course = 15 hours of lectures per semester)

3 credits = 3 hours of instruction per week (3 Credit course = 45 hours of lectures per semester)

Instruction can take the form of lectures / tutorials / laboratory work / fieldwork or other forms. In determining the number of hours of instruction required for a course involving laboratory / field-work, 3 hours of laboratory / field work is generally considered equivalent to 1 hour of lecture.

5.Course Numbering

Every course offered by any University Department is identified by a unique course code.

Illustration

L T P C

EAS C 001 / Geomorphology / 3 / 0 / 0 / 3

In this example:

EAS C 001 is the course code in which:

EAS - is the school code (School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences)

C – indicates that this is a Core Course

001 – is the serial number of the Course

Geomorphology – is the title of the Course

The figures under L, T and P indicate the weight (credits) attached to lectures, tutorials and practical work respectively

The figure under C indicates the total number of credits that the course carries (3 credits in this case)

6.Management and Administration of CBCS

6.1CBCS Office

To discharge the responsibilities of CBCS programmes of the University, there is an exclusive administration wing called CBCS Office. The CBCS Office has the following functions:

• Advertisement of CBCS programmes, Approval of Admission of Students made by Departments, Course Registration, issue of Identity Cards, Coordination of Time Table and preparation of Academic Calendar, Attendance and Consolidation of awards in First Assessment, Second Assessment and the End-Semester Examination and forwarding the consolidated awards lists to the Controller of Examinations for scrutiny and distribution of Grade Sheets, Cumulative Grade Sheets and Provisional Pass Certificates, Convocation Degree / Diploma etc.

6.2Dean

The Dean (Academic) will plan and coordinate all CBCS programmes. The Dean will be assisted by a committee consisting of Chairpersons of Schools. The responsibilities of the Dean (Academic) include:

• Preparation of (a) Academic Calendar (b)Application for Admission (c) Registration Form (d) Grade / Cumulative Grade Sheet (e) Student transcripts.
• Coordination of programmes between schools and other external institutions
• Coordination of common time tables in consultation with Schools.
• Consideration of appeals from students regarding the operational problems related to CBCS
• Coordination with Controller of Examinations and Heads of Schools for publication of results.

6.3Boards of Studies

6.3.1There shall be a school committee consisting of all the teachers of all departments of the school. In order to optimize the use of resources and talents, to avoid duplication of courses and, for effective coordination of CBCS programmes within a school, it is headed by a Chairperson.

6.3.3The School Committee will prepare the common time-table in consultation with the Director of the Campus.

6.3.4Each school committee will meet at least twice in a semester.

6.3.5Meeting notices for the School Committee will be sent by the Chairperson of the School

6.3.6The School Committee will also serve as the Board of Studies for all the Programmes offered by the various departments of the school. The Chairperson of the School will be the Chairperson of the Board of Studies. The Board of Studies will formulate and recommend:

i.Eligibility criteria for admission to CBCS Programmes

ii.Curriculum Content

iii.Model Question Papers for each course and assessment procedure

6.4Departmental Committee

6.4.1There shall be a Departmental Committee consisting of all the teachers of the Department. The Departmental Committee shall be responsible for admission to all the programmes offered by the Department including conduct of entrance tests, verification of records, admission, and evaluation.

6.4.2The Departmental Committee will deliberate on courses and specify the distribution of credits semester-wise and course-wise. For each course it will also specify the number of credits for lectures, tutorials, practicals, seminars etc.

6.4.3Courses (Core/Elective) are designed by teachers and approved by the Departmental Committees. Courses approved by the Departmental Committees shall be approved by the Board of Studies.

6.4.4Course teacher: A teacher offering a course will also be responsible for maintaining attendance and performance sheets of all the students registered for the course.

6.4.5Each teacher offering a course will give the attendance and performance sheets for Sessional Test I, Sessional Test II and End-Semester Examination to the Head of the Department who in turn consolidates all such performance sheets of courses pertaining to the programmes offered by the department. Then the School Committee meets to finalize the results of all courses offered under the school and forward the same to be processed by the Dean / CBCS office / Controller of Examinations.

7.Student Advisor

Every student will have a member of faculty of the Department as his/her student advisor. All teachers of the department shall function as Student Advisors and will have more or less equal number of students. The Student Advisor will advise the students in choosing Elective courses and offer all possible student support services.

8.Discipline

Every student is required to observe discipline and decorum both inside and outside the campus in accordance with the Madras University Students’ Conduct Rules

9.Prospectus and Hand-Book

9.1The Prospectus issued along with the application form for the Master’s / M. Phil. and other programmes contains (i) A profile of the University of Madras (ii) List of Schools of the University and programmes offered in university departments (iii) Eligibility Conditions for various programmes (iv) Fee Structure (Course and Examination fee) (v) Time-table for Entrance Examination.

9.2The Hand Book given to students admitted to University Departments at the time of admission, contains

(i) CBCS Regulations (ii) Complete List of Courses (Programme-wise) and (iii) the Academic Calendar for two years.

10.Structure of Master’s Programme

The term ‘Master’s programme is used to denote M.A., M. Sc., M. Com., M.B.A., M.C.A., M.S., M.Ed. or M.L. degree programmes offered by university departments under CBCS.A Master’s Programme consists of:

Core courses

Elective courses

Self-Study Courses (Optional, Not mandatory)

Soft Skills

Internship

A course may also take the form of a Dissertation / Project work / Practical training / Field work / Internship / Seminar, etc.

A Core course may carry 2 to 4 credits; an Elective / Self-study will be 3 credits and courses on soft skills will carry 2 credits. However, a dissertation / project work may carry up to 6 credits; a semester-long field work may carry 10-15 credits.

10.1All Two -year Masters’ programmes will have the following components, viz.

Core Courses – Minimum 60 credits

Electives - Minimum 18 credits

(6 x 3 credits)

Self-study courses - Maximum 9

credits (3x3 credits) (not mandatory)

Soft Skills – Minimum – 8 credits

Internship – Minimum -2 credits

In order to qualify for a two-year master’s degree a student must acquire a minimum of78 credits (60 credits from core and 18 credits from elective) and a minimum of 10 credits from soft skills and internship (8 credit from soft skills and 2 credit from internship).

10.2 The three year Masters’ programme, (e.g.M.Sc./MTech./ MCA) will have the followingcomponents viz.

Core Courses - Minimum 90 credits

Elective Courses-Minimum 27 credits

Self-study courses-12 credits (4x3 credits) (not mandatory)

Soft skills – Minimum 12 credits

Internship – Minimum 3 credits

In order to qualify for a three-year master’s degree a student must acquire a minimum of 117 credits (Core – minimum 90 credits and electives -minimum of 27 credits)

10.3Duration

The minimum duration for completion of a two year Master’s Programme in any subject is four semesters. The maximum period for completion is Ten semesters counting from first semester.

The minimum duration for completion of a three year Master’s Programme in any subject is six semesters. The maximum period for completion is Twelve semesters counting from first semester.

Even if a candidate earns the required number of credits in less than 4 / 6 semesters, he/she has to necessarily study for 4 semesters for the two years Master’s programme and for 6 semesters for a three year Master’s programme.

10.4Core Courses

Core courses are those, knowledge of which is deemed essential for students registered for a particular Master’s programme. Where feasible and necessary two or more programmes offered by the same department/school or courses offered by other departments may be prescribe one or more common core courses. A student must choose from the core courses prescribed for a particular Masters’Programme. Core courses shall be spread over all the four semesters.

10.5Elective Courses

Elective courses are intended to:

• Allow students to specialize in one or more branches of the broad subject area; or
• Acquire knowledge and skills in a related area that may have applications in the broad subject area; or
• bridge any gap in the curriculum and enable acquisition of essential skills (e.g. statistical, computational, language, communication skills, etc); or
• Help pursue an area of interest to the student

10.6Self-study Courses

i.A Department may also allow students to choose three additional courses to enable them to acquire extra credits through self-study (Not to be taken into account for awarding grades / class).

ii.The course will be in advanced topics in a subject (core or elective) under the supervision of a faculty member. The student shall be required to make a minimum of two seminar presentations (as sessional tests for assessment) and submit a project report. There shall be a viva-voce examination on the report; the distribution of marks for the project report and viva-voce shall be 40 and 20 respectively.

10.7Auditing

Students will be permitted to audit two courses without assigning any credits. It is left to the discretion of the individual faculty members to permit students.

10.8 Soft skills and internship

Courses in soft skills such as (i) Communication Skills (ii) Spoken English (iii) Knowledge of an additional Foreign Language (iv) Computer Skills and (v) Personality Development will enhance the professional competency and also increase the employment prospects of the students.

The soft skill courses will be two or three levels(e.g. basic, advanced) A student must not choose a course on soft skill closely related to his/her Master’s programme.

The Departmental Committee will decide which of the courses on soft skill are closely related to the PG programme(s) of the department.

Internship is intended to gain practical knowledge related to the study. The duration is for 4-6 weeks for 2 credit and 6-8 weeks for 3 credit and it should carried out in an organisation recommended by the Department during the summer vacation of the first year. A report must be submitted.

11.Course Registration

11.1After admission to a Programme, a Registration Number will be assigned to every student by the Department.

11.2Every student must register (in consultation with his/her advisor) for the courses he/she intends to undergo in that semester by applying in the prescribed proforma in triplicate (duly signed by the candidate, student advisor and the HOD), within the deadline notified in the Academic Calendar (Course titles are given in the handbook).

11.3A student shall register for a minimum of 15 credits. However, in the final Semester, a student shall register for a minimum of 10 credits. Late Registration may be permitted by the Dean (Academic) up to two weeks after the commencement of the semester

11.4Withdrawal from a course is permitted up to one week from the date of registration.

11.5After registration, a student can drop an elective course agreed to earlier and can substitute it by another elective course for valid reasons with the consent of the Student Advisor, but before the deadline for withdrawal of courses provided that the candidate will be able to fulfil the required minimum attendance in the substitute course. Withdrawal from a course will not be permitted for those who undergo late registration. Cancellation of a course (Core / Elective/ Self-study) may be permitted before the conduct of First sessional test.

11.6From the Second Semester onwards, registration for the courses will be done by students on or before a specified date in consultation with their Student Advisors. A student will become eligible for registration only if he/she has cleared all dues to the Institution, during the previous semester.

11.7The courses registered after withdrawal should enable the student to earn a minimum of 15 credits.

12.Attendance

12.1The teacher handling a course shall be responsible for maintaining a record of attendance of students who have registered for the course.

12.2All teachers shall intimate the Head of the Department at least seven calendar days before the last instruction day in the semester the particulars of all students who have less than 75% attendance in one or more courses

12.3A candidate who has less than 75% attendance shall not be permitted to sit for the End-semester examination in the course in which the shortfall exists.

12.4However, it shall be open to the Dean (Academic) to grant exemption to a candidate who has failed to obtain the prescribed 75% attendance for valid reasons on payment of prescribed fee and such exemptions shall not under any circumstances be granted for attendance below 65%.

12.5The HOD shall announce the names of all students who will not be eligible to take the End-semester examinations in the various courses and send a copy of the same to the Dean’s Office. Registrations of such students for those courses shall be treated as cancelled. If the course is a core course, the candidate should register for and repeat the course when it is offered next.

13.Examination and Evaluation

13.1Evaluation will be done on a continuous basis, three times during each semester. For the purpose of uniformity, particularly for interdepartmental transfer of credits, there will be a uniform procedure of examination to be adopted by all teachers. There will be two sessional tests and one End-semester examination in each course during every semester.

13.2Sessional Test I will be held during the sixth week of the semester for the syllabi covered till then.

13.3Sessional Test II will be held during the eleventh Week for the syllabi covered between seventh and eleventh week.

13.4Sessional tests(of one to two hours duration) may employ one or more assessment tools such as objective tests, assignments, paper presentation, laboratory work, etc suitable to the course. This requires an element of openness. The students are to be informed in advance about the nature of assessment. Students shall compulsorily attend the two sessional tests, failing which they will not be allowed to appear for the end semester examination. A Student cannot repeat Sessional Tests. However, if for any compulsive reason the student could not attend the test, the prerogative of arranging a special test lies with the teacher.In case of students who could not attend any of the sessional tests due to medical reason or under extraordinary circumstances, a separate test shall be conducted before the End Semester Examinations by the concerned faculty member.

13.5The sessional tests will carry 40% (20%+20%) of total marks for the course. The marks of the two Sessional Tests shall be taken into account for the computation of Grades.

13.6There shall be one End semester examination of 3 hours duration carrying 60% of Marks in each course covering the entire syllabus prescribed for the course. The End semester examination is normally a written / laboratory -based examination. The mode of End semester examination and evaluation will be decided by the teacher in consultation withthe Departmental Committee. Model Question Paper for each course has to beprepared by the teacher and the same should be forwarded to the Head of the Department.