JNTUH to introduce honours in degree courses

Hyderabad: Starting from this academic year, engineering students, especially those from conventional engineering courses like mechanical, civil, among others, will get a chance to opt for honours or minor degrees in emerging technologies.
Speaking at a press conference organized to reveal details about Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University’s, Hyderabad (JNTUH), Katta Narasimha Reddy, vice-chancellor (VC) of JNTUH, announced the varsity will be introducing honours/ minor specialization in emerging/ multidisciplinary areas in undergraduate degree courses to improve domain knowledge and employability in conventional branches.
A student of the same or another department will get to take the minimum additional credits in the range of 18-20 and get a degree with honours or minor from the same or another department.
“If a mechanical Engineering student selects and pursues prescribed courses from an ‘emerging area’ namely ‘data science’ under this scheme, then the student will be awarded B Tech degree of mechanical engineering (Major) with minor in ‘data science’”, explained Reddy.
The varsity is also contemplating to permit B Tech students to take a break from studies for a maximum duration of two semesters, preferably in one academic year, to initiate start-up ventures and product development. Break of studies on serious health reasons is also permitted with the approval of the college principal.
The vice-chancellor said that along with concentrating on autonomous and affiliated colleges, bringing in reforms in the evaluation syste and introducing new courses in emerging technologies the varsity is also ensuring that there is a balance in emerging and conventional courses offered by affiliated colleges.
The university will also be implementing a three-step process—managements to scrutinize certificates of candidates during faculty ratification and executing an affidavit, scrutiny of certificates by varsity officials and establishment of a special cell to deal with the verification of degree certificates to keep a check on faculty using fake certificates.