Syllabus goof-up may lead to loss of one year for students of this Cuttack College 

Students pursuing PG (MA) in Home Science from Sailabala (SB) Women's Autonomous College at Cuttack, Odisha are a worried lot. Already a year into the 2022-23 academic session, they are now demanding a change of their stream from MA to MSc due to an alleged irregularity on the part of the college administration, stated a report in The New Indian Express.

In the last academic year, the SB Women's College had sought permission from the Higher Education department to start PG in Home Science in the Arts stream (MA) with 48 seats, which was granted by the latter. It also sought affiliation for the course from Rama Devi (RD) Women's University, which affiliates all the women's colleges of the state. RD University, which also offers Home Science but in MSc stream, provided affiliation for the MA course for a period of two years.

Against the 48 seats, 41 students took admission to the MA course last year. "Since SB is an autonomous college, it has its board of studies and prepares its own curriculum besides conducting its examinations. However, instead of framing its own course for MA in Home Science, the SB college administration used the MSc curriculum of RD Women's University and taught the students accordingly," said an official of the Higher Education department. The students also appeared for the examination of first semester of the course (2022-23 session) as per the MSc syllabus.

What did the principal do?
Sources said after the semester examinations when students realised that they would be getting MA degrees in the subject despite studying the MSc curriculum, they demanded the college administration to change the MA stream to MSc. College principal Gayatri Biswal recently wrote to the Higher Education department seeking change in the stream and the latter forwarded the application to the RD university for approval.

However, the college's proposal of changing MA in Home Science to MSc in Home Science in the middle of the academic year was declined by the university on the ground that it violates the academic norms. "The college has already got affiliation for two years master degree in arts for home science (on November 15,2022) and accordingly, admissions have been completed for 2022-23. Change of stream after one year is not permitted as the students admitted to the course have already completed one year of classes," wrote the university to the college on May 11.

University authorities said approving the stream change in the middle of an academic year will set a wrong example for other autonomous colleges in future.

However, the college on Tuesday again urged the university to reconsider the demand. Admitting that the syllabus taught to students belongs to RD University, SB College principal Biswal said they are awaiting the final decision of the university. Meanwhile, students, requesting anonymity, said the goof-up has already cost them one year.