Andhra govt revises conventional UG programmes under NEP

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], January 6 : Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh on Tuesday said that outcome-based curriculum of conventional undergraduate programs was revised through subject expert committees under National Education Policy (NEP).
Suresh said that four years honors program with BA, BSc, BCom etc with life skill courses, skill development courses, skill enhancement courses, research and ten months mandatory internship has been introduced from 2020-21 academic year.
He addressed the media about the achievements of the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) in the academic year 2020-21.
Suresh further said that the engineering programs curriculum is also revised. B Tech Honors degree with 10 months of mandatory internship is introduced with minor degrees. Different tracks for Minor are planned with Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) and National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) also.
Efforts are on to set up Quality Assessment Cell to conduct academic audit in colleges and to further setup Internal Quality Assessment Cells in all universities and colleges, he added.
The minister further said that proposals are made for four new universities - Skill Development University at Tirupati, Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam University at Ongole, Sri Gurajada Apparao University at Vizianagaram and Tribal University. YSR Architecture and Fine Arts University established at Kadapa. Tribal Engineering College at Kurupam will function from 2021-22. One cluster university is established at Kadapa under RUSA.
Suresh said that APSCHE has entered into an MoU with the Confederation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Bangalore to develop incubation centers and technology laboratories for novel, innovative and value-added products, process or service particularly in the areas of advancement in Technology, Management and Applied Engineering and associated areas of applications across all universities and affiliated institutions.
Another MoU has been entered into with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) New Delhi to promote research quality in universities and colleges.
The education minister said that universities are identified for transformation into Multi-Discipline Education and Research Universities (MERU). In the first phase, five universities - namely Andhra University, Sri Venkateswara University, JNTU Kakinada, JNTU Anantapuram and RGUKT will be transformed. Three more universities will be transformed to MERU in the second phase, namely - Acharya Nagarjuna University, Sri Krishnadevaraya University and Padmavati Mahila University.
The minister said that show-cause notices were issued to 247 colleges that have not obtained affiliation from respective universities, or made less than 25 per cent of admissions for the last three years.
He said that an enquiry committee was constituted and it has submitted its report. Based on the report, permissions to 48 private unaided degree colleges and programs in respect of 61 private unaided degree colleges were withdrawn from 2020-21.