Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)
Coordinator: Mahesh Kumar V
As per UGC guidelines, Choice Based Credit and Semester System (CBCS System) has been introduced in the academic year 2009. The main feature of CBCS is to make education, student centric rather than system centric or teacher centric. It provides the students the flexibility in Education system, so that they can choose, inter-disciplinary, intra-disciplinary and skill-based courses of their interest.
The First Degree Programme shall include
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Language Courses
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Foundation Courses
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Core Courses in the Major subjects related to Degree Programme
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Complementary Courses on allied subjects
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Open/Elective Courses
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Project/Dissertation and
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Social Service and Extension Activities.
Credits
Each course is allotted credits based on number of hours assigned for teaching/tutorial/practical etc. No Course shall carry more than 4 Credits. Audit Courses will carry zero Credit. The student secures the Credits assigned to a Course on successful completion of the Course.
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Language Courses and Foundation Courses shall be offered in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Semesters.
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Core Courses may be offered from the 1st Semester onwards along with the Complementary Courses and shall include a compulsory project / Dissertation to be undertaken during the 5th / 6th Semester.
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Open /Elective Courses may be offered in any subject and the student will have the option to do Courses offered by other Departments, subject to availability of teachers and infrastructure in the Institution, and in exceptional situation, specialized, advanced/applied course offered by same Institution.
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Open course shall be offered in Fifth Semester and Elective course in Sixth Semester.
The student secures the Credits assigned to a Course on successful completion of the Course. The students shall be required to earn a minimum of 120 Credits including Credits for Language Courses, Foundation Courses, Core Courses, Complementary Courses (as the case may be), Dissertation and Open/Elective Courses as indicated below within a minimum period of 6 Semesters for the award of the Degree excluding Credit acquired for social service/extension activity.
The system not only offers opportunities and avenues to learn core courses but also to explore the additional avenues of learning beyond the core courses for holistic development of an individual.
In 2013 University has changed the direct grading system by ‘The University of Kerala Regulations relating to the First Degree Programmes under the Choice Based Credit and Semester (CBCS) system in Affiliated Colleges’, 2013. The Vocational, Triple Main and Restructured Courses has been renamed as Career related First Degree Programmes.
The performances of students are evaluated in percentage score and shall involve Continuous evaluation with a weigh of 20% and End Semester Evaluation with a weight of 80%. The following terms are used for evaluation.
‘Grade Point’ is an integer indicating the numerical equivalent of the broad level of performance of a student in a Course. The product of Grade Point and the Credit of a Course is called ‘Credit Point’. ‘Semester Credit Point Average’ (SCPA) is an index of the overall performance of a student at the end of a semester. It is obtained by dividing the sum of the Credit Points obtained by a student at the end of a semester by the sum of the Credits of Courses taken by the student in the semester. ‘Cumulative Credit Point Average’ (CCPA) indicates the broad academic level of performance of the student in a Programme. It is obtained by dividing the sum of the Credit Points in all the Courses taken by the student for the entire Programme by the total number of Credits.
A well-structured criterion is followed for the award of formative assessment viz. Continuous Internal Assessment tests, Field visits/ Internships for (PG Courses), class seminars/ assignments and attendance. Grievance redressing mechanism is also in practice for internal assessment marks. The end semester answer papers are evaluated by external examiners and final results are published following the grading system.
The Evaluation of each Course shall consist of two parts
1) Continuous Evaluation (CE)
2) End Semester Evaluation (ESE)
The CE and ESE ratio shall be 1:4 for both Courses with or without practical. There shall be a maximum of 80 marks for ESE and maximum of 20 marks for CE.
For all Courses (Theory and Practical), Grades are given on a 7‐point scale based
on the total percentage of mark (CE+ESE) as given below
Percentage of marks | CCPA | Letter Grade |
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90 and above | 9 and above | A+ Outstanding |
80 to < 90 | 8 to < 9 | A Excellent |
70 to <80 | 7 to < 8 | B Very Good |
60 to < 70 | 6 to < 7 | C Good |
50 to < 60 | 5 to < 6 | D Satisfactory |
40 to < 50 | 4 to < 5 | E Adequate |
Below 40 | < 4 | F Failure |