Assam University: Silchar Regulation of PG, Integrated Courses and UG Courses in Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) to be Followed From Academic Session 2015-16.
This Regulation shall be called Assam University Regulation governing Post Graduate, Integrated and Undergraduate Programmes under the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) (New). These programmes are offered only to the students admitted in the University campus in Silchar and Diphu and Hafflong Govt. College (in some subjects).
These Regulations shall come into force from the Academic Year 2015-2016.
1. Definitions:
University: University means Assam University, Silchar.
Academic Year: Two consecutive semesters (One Odd + One Even) constitute one Academic year.
(July to December : Odd Semester, January to June : Even Semester) Semester: Each semester will consist of 15-18 weeks of academic work equivalent to 90 actual teaching days.
Choice Based Credit System (CBCS): The CBCS provides Choice for students to select from the prescribed courses (Core, Elective, minor or soft skill courses).
Programme: An Educational programme leading to award of a degrees/diploma/certificate.
Course: Usually referred to as papers in a component of a programme.
Credit: A unit by which the course work is measured. It determines the number of hours of instructions required per week. One credit is equivalent to one hour of teaching (lecture or tutorial) or two hours of practical work/field work (per work).
Credit Based Semester System (CBSS): Under the CBSS, requirement for awarding a degree or diploma or certificate is prescribed in terms of number of credits to be completed by the students.
Letter Grade: It is an index of the performance of students in a particular course. Grades are denoted by letters O,A+,A,B+,B,C,P,F.
Grade Point: It is a numerical grade allotted to each letter grade on a 10 point scale.
Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA): it is a measure of performance of work done in a semester. It is the ratio of total credit points secured by a student in various courses registered in a semester and the total course credits taken during that semester.
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA): It is a measure of overall cumulative performance of a student in all semesters. The CGPA is the ratio of total credit points secured by a student in various courses in all semesters and the sum of the total credits of all courses in all the semesters. It is expressed upto two decimal points/places.
Degree: Degree means Post Graduate/Undergraduate degree.
Grade Card/Marksheet: Based on grades earned, a grade card Certificate/Marksheet shall be issued to all the registered students after every semester. The grade card/ marksheet will display the course details (Code, title, number of credits, grade secured) along with SGPA of that semester and CGPA earned till that semester.
Board of Studies: Board of studies means Board of Post Graduate Studies (BPGS) for Post Graduate Programmes or Board of Under Graduate Studies (BUGS) for under Graduate Programmes.
Academic Council: Academic Council means Academic Council of Assam University, Silchar.
Executive Council: Executive Council means Executive Council of Assam University.
2. Choice Based Credit System - Main Features:
The Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) provides flexibility in designing curriculum and assigning credits based on the course content and hours of teaching. It provides a ‘cafeteria’’ type approach in which the students can take courses of their choice, learn at their own pace, undergo additional courses and acquire more than the required credits, and adopt an inter-disciplinary approach to learning.
3. Type of Courses:
Courses in a programme be of three kinds: Core, Elective and Foundation.
1) Core Course: There may be a Core Course in every semester. This is the course which is to be compulsorily studied by a student as a core requirement to complete the requirement of a programme in a said discipline of study.
2) Elective Course: Elective course is a course which can be chosen from a pool of papers. It may be:
Supportive to the discipline of study.
Providing an expanded scope.
Enabling an exposure to some other discipline/domain.
Nurturing student’s proficiency/skill.
An elective may be “Generic Elective’’ focusing on those courses which add generic proficiency to the students. An elective may be ‘’Discipline centric’’ or may be chosen from an unrelated discipline. It may be called an ‘’Open Elective’’.
3) Foundation Course: The Foundation Courses may be of two kinds: Compulsory Foundation and Elective foundation. ‘’Compulsory Foundation’’ courses are the courses based upon the content that leads to Knowledge enhancement. They are mandatory for all disciplines. Elective Foundation courses are value-based and are aimed at man-making education.
4. CBCS Course Structure:
(a) PG/UG/Integrated Courses are offered within the existing semester pattern.
(b) There shall be 2(two)/4 (Four) semester in each PG Programme and 6(Six) / 8(Eight) /10 (Ten), as the case may be, semesters in the Undergraduate Programmes.
(c) The Academic calendar in each semester shall provide 90 teaching days.
5. Attendance:
(a) 75% attendance is compulsory for all the students. A student shall be considered to have satisfied the requirement of attendance for appearing the semester end examination, if he/she attended not less then 75% of the number of classes held upto the end of the semester including tests, seminars and practicals etc.
(b) There is, however, provision for condonation of attendance by the Dean of the School for the students who have put up the attendance between 65% and 74.99% on Medical grounds on production of Medical Certificate .
(c) If a student represents the University/State/Nation in any sports, NCC,NSS or Cultural or any other officially sponsored activities, he/she shall be eligible to claim the attendance for the actual number of days participated subject to a maximum of 20 days in a semester, based on the specific recommendation of the Head of the Department. This is required to be approved by the Dean of the School.
(d) A student who does not satisfy the requirement of attendance shall not be permitted to take internal assessment as well as the semester end examinations. While forwarding examination forms to Examination Department, this is required to ensured specifically by the Department.
6. Medium of instruction:
The medium of instructions shall be English except programmes/courses in Languages or as decided by Academic Council/Executive Council.
7. Registration :
After admission in a programme, students are required to apply for Registration under the programme in prescribed format attaching Original Migration Certificate from Board/ University/ Institution studied last. No student will be allowed to seat for first semester examination without Registration.
8. Distribution of Credits:
(a) Each theory paper would have one credit for each hour of instruction per week in a semester. The activities include lectures, tutorials and others for internal evaluation (Seminar, group discussion, laboratory/demonstration session mini project etc.).
Ideally, a theory paper (which is equivalent to 100 marks of course load) should be of 6(six) credit points which would consist of 4 hours of lectures and 2 hours of tutorial & other activities per week.
A theory paper of 50 marks would have 3 (three) credit points: 2 hours of lectures+ 1 hours tutorial per week (& other).
For science subjects with practical one hour tutorial may be outside the office hours for home work, literature survey/ internet browsing etc.
(b) Practical papers/ courses would have one credit point for every 2 hours of laboratory work per week in a semester. If the number of hours per week is an odd number, appropriate adjustment be made it to the nearest even number, for example.
1) 3 hours lab per day x 2 days per week = 6 hours = 3 credits.
2) 3 hours lab per day x 3 days per week = 9 hours = 4 credits.
If the total number of practical courses is 18 hours per week, then 3 hours per week be devoted as home work for preparing the report (i.e. laboratory book) and other activity related to practical.
(c) P.G. Dissertation research work/projects/Field work would be of 12 credit points by 24 hours of work per week in a semester. The dissertation would involve activities such as literature survey preparation of project report, computation, seminar, presentation, demonstrations, viva-voce examinations, and (if required) visit to other institutions or research laboratory for data collection etc. About six to nine hours of work may be allowed to such activities outside class hours and about 18 to 15 hours of work for the laboratory work.
(d) Other type of work such as departmental seminar, industrial training may be compulsory for the student, but no credit or marks for internal evaluation be assigned for such activities.
(e) The total minimum numbers of courses (papers) for each semester will be 5 courses unless restriction is imposed by any other statutory bodies like AICTE, BCI, NCTE etc. Each course will be divided into 5 units of equal weightage.
(f) For successful completion of PG Courses (4 semester/2semester) the minimum total Credit to be earned by a candidate is 120/60 credits respectively, divided in 4/2 semester. For 3/4/5 year UG/Integrated Course the minimum total credit will be 180/240/300 credits respectively divided in 6/8/10 semesters.
(g) Candidates admitted under this CBCS should compulsorily study 2 courses in second semester as Open Choice Course from other programme/programmes of their choice. For implementation of the same each department will indentify 2 courses in the second semester as Open Choice Course.
(h) Beside these courses all departments can also offer non credit courses, such as soft skill course, value education course, personality development course, language course etc.
9. Examination and Assessment:
The performance of the students in a semester shall be judged over a period of 6 months by a combination of internal assessment and end semester examinations. The Internal assessment shall carry 30 marks and the minimum marks to qualify are 12. The semester examination shall be of 70 marks and the pass marks is 28. However, there may be some variation in respect of few programmes/ courses (applicable if recommended by AICTE/BCI/NCTE/PCI or other Statutory Bodies), but the percentage of pass marks in all the cases shall be 40%.
10. Evaluation Method:
10.1 Procedure for Internal assessment evaluation:
The marks allotted for Internal Assessment (IA) and Assignment will be 30 marks in each course/paper, out of which 15 marks will for Internal assignments and 15 marks for Assignment.
Three Internal test is to be conducted in each course/paper and after evaluation, average of two highest marks scored out of these three examinations is to be awarded to the student.
(a) Each Internal Assessment examination shall be of one hour duration and to be conducted by the concerned teacher of each paper/course. The setting of question paper, invigilation duty, evaluation of answer scripts for each paper shall be done by the concerned teacher(s) as a part of his/her normal duty. Assignment, Seminars & Group Discursion or related work depending on the decision of the department / teacher concerned may also be considered for awarding marks of Internal Assessment.
(b) The teacher concerned shall fix the exact date of the Internal assessment examination in each paper/course as per the academic calendar and in consultation with the Head of the Department. The process of evaluation of Internal Assessment should not take more than two weeks from the date of examination.
(c) There is no provision for “repeat/betterment’’ in the Internal Assessment. If a student misses one or all three examinations for valid reasons (as evidenced by medical certificate or other authentic document), then the teacher/department concerned may allow the student to sit for separate examination.
(d) If a paper/course is taught by more than one teacher, then all the concerned teachers should be involved in the Internal Assessment process.
(e) At the end of the semester and before the start of Semester examination, the concerned department should submit the Internal Assessment marks along with attendance record, as per prescribed format in the form of a Credit Card to the Controller of Examinations.
(f) Students will be allowed to appear in the Semester Examination on that papers only in which he/she passed the Internal Assessment Test. It will be ensured by the Heads of Departments that the students who have failed in the Internal Assessment test in any paper should not appear in the said paper in the semester examination. Even if they appear, their examination on that paper shall automatically stand cancelled and their results will be declared as “FAIL” on that paper. The student should clear the Internal Assessment in the next relevant semester (Even/Odd) to qualify for sitting in the next Even/Odd Semester Examination as a back paper.
10.2 Procedure of semester evaluation:
(a) Semester examinations are held in the month of December for Odd Semester and in May for Even Semester. The Controller of Examinations shall finalise the dates of examinations in consultation with the Deans of Schools and the Head of the Departments. The Controller of Examinations would make necessary arrangements for announcing the date of examination and other necessary procedures as per University rules.
(b) The Marks allotted for Semester evaluation is 70% of total marks. The semester examinations will be generally of 3(three) hours duration (with some exceptions for certain paper/courses of special nature).
(c) To ensure fairness and objectivity in assessment, it is essential that the process of setting of question papers, and evaluation of answer scripts are carried out in a fair manner. To accomplish this, in case of at least 50% of core courses offered in different programmes across the disciplines, the setting of question papers (theoretical component) as well as evaluation of answer scripts shall be done by external examiners. The Panel of external examiners, as prepared by the Department, shall be placed before the respective Board of Studies for consideration and approval. Once the process is over, approval of the Vice-Chancellor shall be obtained invariably and information to this effect, along with the panel, shall be sent to the Controller of Examinations.
(d) In case of the assessment of practical component of such core courses, the team of examiners shall be constituted on 50-50% basis i,e half of the examiners in the team will be invited from outside the university.
(e) For assessment of project reports/thesis/dissertation etc, the work shall be undertaken by internal as well as external examiner.
(f) In order to publish result within 45 days from the date of conducting last examination, the concerned Head of the Department shall have to furnish details of marks/marksfoils (Complete in all respect) to the COE within 30(thirty) days from the end of the examination. Credit cards containing Internal Assessment marks and attendance record shall invariably be sent to the COE before the commencement of the examination.
(g) The Controller of Examinations shall make necessary arrangement for announcing / publishing the result within 2(two) weeks of the receipt of marks foils (complete in all respect).
11. Compilation of SGPA and CGPA:
The following procedure to compute the Semester Grade Point (SGPA) and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) shall be followed:
i) The SGPA is the ratio of sum of the product of the number of credits with the grade points scored by a student in all the courses taken by a student and the sum of the number of credits of all the courses undergone by a student, i.e.
SGPA (Si) = ∑ (Ci x Gi)/ ∑ Ci ; Where Ci is the number of credits of the ith course and Gi is the grade point scored by the student in the ith course.
ii) The CGPA is also calculated in the same manner taking into account all the courses undergone by a student over all the semesters of a programme, i.e.
CGPA = ∑ (Ci xSi) /∑Ci ; Where Si is the SGPA of the ith semester and Ci is the total number of credits in that semesters.
iii) The SGPA and CGPA shall be rounded off to 2 decimal points and reported in the marksheet/ grade card.
12. Letter Grades and Grade Points:
12.1 A 10- point grading system with the following letter grades as given below shall be followed:
Letter Grade Range of Marks Grade Point O (Outstanding) 85-100 10 A+ (Excellent) 75-85 9 A (Very Good) 65-75 8 B+ (Good) 55-65 7 B ( Above Average) 50-55 6 C (Average) 45-55 5 P (Pass) 40-45 4 F (Fail) <40 0 Ab (Absent) 0
12.2 A student obtaining Grade F shall be considered failed and he/she will be required to reappear in the examination.
12.3 For Non-Credit courses, Satisfactory or unsatisfactory shall be indicated instead of the letter grade and this will not be counted for the computation of SGPA/CGPA.
12.4 A student will be declared to complete a course satisfactorily and will be awarded the relevant Degree/Diploma , if he/she clears all the courses/papers required to complete that Degree as stipulated in the course curriculum.
12.5 A student of Integrated course will not be allowed to take admission in Master Courses till he/she complete his undergraduate courses satisfactorily to obtain his/her Bachelor Degree. Otherwise, to get admission in Master Degree courses a student must pass his/her Bachelor Degree Course.
13. Re-evaluation/Scrutiny of answer scripts Students may apply for re-evaluation/Scrutiny of answer scripts (theory papers only) of end semester examination within 15 days from date of declaration of end semester results in prescribed format along with the original mark sheet and a fee of Rs.200.00 per paper with the following condition a) Not more than 3 papers can be requested for re-evaluation/scrutiny.
b) Scrutiny of papers will be done in case of the students who have scored below 20% and above 60% of total marks allotted for the paper. Their answer scripts will not be re-evaluated in any case.
c) The re-evaluated marks will stand as final marks. Marks awarded after re-evaluation is to be accepted, even if the marks decreases after re-evaluation. A new mark sheet with the re-evaluated marks(more or less than marks originally scored) will be issued to the student and the mark sheet issued earlier will be cancelled.
14. Declaration Of Rank:
Names of First and Second Rank holders in different courses ( offered by the University, will be declared after the completion of the process of re-evaluation relating to the publication of “final semester” results. “Final Semester Result” means examination result declared after completion of a regular course of stipulated duration and thereafter the last semester examination conducted by the University for award of a particular degree/diploma (e.g. 4th Semester will be final semester for Post Graduate Degree(M.A./M.Sc.). Degree, 6th/8th/10th Semester, as the case may be, for UG/Integrated Courses etc. Declaration of rank will depend upon the fulfilment of following conditions:
1. The University will declare only the name(s) of the First and Second rank holders in a particular course/degree. Rank will be awarded only to the students securing Letter Grade of B and above ( i,e CGPA>6.00 ). In the case of no student securing the Letter Grade of B or above, no ranks will be declared for that course/degree.
2. The student who have secured highest CGPA will be declared as :First” and next highest will be declared as “Second” . In the case of more than one student securing the same CGPA, they will be declared jointly as “First” or “Second” as the case may be.
3. For securing rank, a student should have completed the course of study as regular student and passed all the semester examinations in first attempt within the stipulated duration of the course and without any grace marks and/or back/arrear paper in any semester.
4. Students appearing in supplementary examination, will not be considered for rank/position.
5. A student will not be eligible for the award of rank, if there is a report against him/her, by the competent authority in writing for adopting unfair means in any of the semester examination of the course/degree.
6. In case of any dispute regarding rank/position, a student can submit his appeal to the University authority in writing within 15 days of the declaration of ranks giving full details of his/her points along with all documents. No case will be considered thereafter. The decision of the University authority shall be final and binding.
7. First rank holder/holders will be awarded with a gold medal and merit prize by the University on the subsequent Convocation. Rank Certificates will be issued only to the “First” and “Second” rank holders by the University.