Skill-based undergrad courses on cards

With a far greater demand for self-financed courses due to better job prospects, BA, BCom and BSc students are increasingly being perceived as facing a disadvantage. To help out this large population of students, colleges are now planning to include skill-based short-term courses from the coming academic year.

SK Somaiya College of Arts, Science and Commerce, which hopes to gain autonomy before the beginning of the next academic year, is expected to introduce several job-oriented courses for undergraduates. The courses — grouped under electives — would offer an additional certificate or diploma. For now, students have no such option for elective courses.

Principal Dr Sangeeta Kohli said, “We are finalising a few elective courses for the 2012-13 batch. While programmes in e-commerce, retail management, tax and market management would be offered to BCom students, voice modulation, sound engineering and filmmaking would be made available to mass media students and subjects like biodiversity for BSc students. Electives from a group of four to five courses can be chosen.”

KJ Somaiya College, a sister concern of SK Somaiya, is also introducing electives this year. Principal Dr Vijay Joshi said, “Science students don’t get to study languages and this affects their communication skills. From this year, we plan to include three languages for them to choose from.”
Credits will, however, be awarded for such courses in both colleges only after they get functional freedom from the Mumbai University (MU).

The MU’s first autonomous campus, St Xavier’s College, already offers elective courses.