WBSU stresses on skill devp training at UG level
Kolkata: The West Bengal State University (WBSU) is laying special emphasis on skill development training for its students at the under graduate level under Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), which has been introduced from this academic year. All the 46 colleges under the varsity have been directed to take necessary measures for introducing skill development programmes.
Students will have to undergo this training in their third year. "A large number of students studying in the colleges, affiliated to the university, are first generation learners. They are often forced to shun their studies midway to support their families in eking out a living. So, I have directed all the colleges to have some sort of skill development courses like plumbing, electrical wiring, basic nursing and compounding etc. This will ensure that once they have their degrees, their chances of employability will be much higher," said Basab Chaudhuri, Vice-Chancellor of WBSU.
The decision of the university comes in the wake of University Grants Commission prodding the varsities to introduce CBCS with an intertwining of some sort of skill enhancement in the existing subjects and linking them with the academic subjects that are taught at the UG level.
In another significant stride, WBSU has made the study of at least one foreign language compulsory for the students of humanities during their graduation course. There will be two semesters in both first and second year. In the final year, students have to study one foreign language — among English, Hindi, Sanskrit and French.
Recently, a workshop on CBCS was held at Sarojini Naidu College for Women, Dumdum, which was attended by students from as many as 15 of its colleges affiliated colleges. "The new system is considerably different from the older system and a lot of confusions, about various options and modalities under this system, are still prevailing among the students, even within the teachers of the affiliated colleges under WBSU. Prof Arunabha Adhikari and Prof Mukut Chakraborty answered all the questions from the audience withering away all the confusions among them," said Urmila Ukil, principal of Sarojini Naidu College for Women.
