3 state varsities outsource elective-teaching to BAOU
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) rids three state universities of the task of hiring teachers for elective courses; it offers 149 electives and conducts exams for the same to help students earn credits for postgraduate courses
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, October 26, 2010 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2010102620101026030124566c99cd434)
A Memorandum of Understanding with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) is working wonders for several state universities implementing the choice-based credit system (CBCS) for postgraduate courses.
Some of these varsities do not have a proper curriculum in place for electives nor teachers who can teach that subject. But BAOU offers 149 electives to the students to choose from, making universities heave a sigh of relief.
Nearly 700 students from three state universities have enrolled at BAOU to study the electives.
While the student studies core subjects at the conventional university, he or she can study the electives offered by BAOU and earn credits for the same.
That is not all, BAOU will even conduct exams for the elective courses and send the marks scored by the student to the partnering university. All this, for free.
BAOU will be conducting exams for elective courses for the 700 students of Kutch University, Bhavnagar University and Gujarat State Forensic Science University.
Ganpat University and North Gujarat University had also signed the MoU, but are yet to offer BAOU’s courses to its students as electives.
Gujarat is the first state in the western region to adopt CBCS. The system will allow students study subjects of their choice along with the core subjects of their faculty.
This means a chemistry student can also study mathematics, while a social science student can opt for journalism as his or her elective.
The system was introduced to establish synergy between a conventional and an open university, where a student will be allowed to study elective subjects along with core ones. Under CBCS, each subject would have a certain number of credits attached to it, depending on the level of difficulty.
Each student would be expected to earn a certain number of credits by the end of the year to make it through—and an increasing number of credits to earn the various ascending grades.
The universities partnering with BAOU benefit a lot out of the MoU. They neither have to worry about teaching the students these electives nor check their answersheets. Students, on the other hand, get ready material from BAOU — the university has uploaded the course material on its website.
Also, in case of any doubt or assistance, they can walk into any of the 400 study centres of BAOU. Apart from gaining credits from the core university, they will also get a separate certificate from BAOU for successfully completing the elective courses.
Vice Chancellor of BAOU Manoj Soni said: “A choice-based system gives students a lot of options to choose from. It is a holistic approach to education.
“So far 700 students have chosen their subjects from a range of electives we are offering. We are also trying to introduce more courses for other universities. When the CBCS is implemented for undergraduate courses, we will have lakhs of students enrolling with us.”
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, October 26, 2010 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2010102620101026030124566c99cd434)
A Memorandum of Understanding with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) is working wonders for several state universities implementing the choice-based credit system (CBCS) for postgraduate courses.
Some of these varsities do not have a proper curriculum in place for electives nor teachers who can teach that subject. But BAOU offers 149 electives to the students to choose from, making universities heave a sigh of relief.
Nearly 700 students from three state universities have enrolled at BAOU to study the electives.
While the student studies core subjects at the conventional university, he or she can study the electives offered by BAOU and earn credits for the same.
That is not all, BAOU will even conduct exams for the elective courses and send the marks scored by the student to the partnering university. All this, for free.
BAOU will be conducting exams for elective courses for the 700 students of Kutch University, Bhavnagar University and Gujarat State Forensic Science University.
Ganpat University and North Gujarat University had also signed the MoU, but are yet to offer BAOU’s courses to its students as electives.
Gujarat is the first state in the western region to adopt CBCS. The system will allow students study subjects of their choice along with the core subjects of their faculty.
This means a chemistry student can also study mathematics, while a social science student can opt for journalism as his or her elective.
The system was introduced to establish synergy between a conventional and an open university, where a student will be allowed to study elective subjects along with core ones. Under CBCS, each subject would have a certain number of credits attached to it, depending on the level of difficulty.
Each student would be expected to earn a certain number of credits by the end of the year to make it through—and an increasing number of credits to earn the various ascending grades.
The universities partnering with BAOU benefit a lot out of the MoU. They neither have to worry about teaching the students these electives nor check their answersheets. Students, on the other hand, get ready material from BAOU — the university has uploaded the course material on its website.
Also, in case of any doubt or assistance, they can walk into any of the 400 study centres of BAOU. Apart from gaining credits from the core university, they will also get a separate certificate from BAOU for successfully completing the elective courses.
Vice Chancellor of BAOU Manoj Soni said: “A choice-based system gives students a lot of options to choose from. It is a holistic approach to education.
“So far 700 students have chosen their subjects from a range of electives we are offering. We are also trying to introduce more courses for other universities. When the CBCS is implemented for undergraduate courses, we will have lakhs of students enrolling with us.”
