NIT-Calicut undergoes major curriculum revamp

In tune with the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) will introduce a revamped curriculum for the all BTech, BArch, MTech, MSc, MPlan and MBA programmes this academic year. The institute will be first among the country among all Indian Institutes of Technology and NITs to scrap the common first-year programme for all branches of studies that was followed by engineering institutions for decades, S.M. Sameer, Dean (Academic), said here on Friday.

He said that this would help students familiarise themselves with the new industry landscape arising out of Industry 4.0 and other major developments in this decade from their first year of study. Prasad Krishna, Director, NIT-C, said the curriculum revamp would ensure active and practical-oriented learning and bring industrial and social changes to the classrooms. It is expected to offer more interdisciplinary opportunities to students, he added.

The revamped syllabi for various programmes have become a reality after a year-long review and revision by the institute’s curriculum revision committees. The process has been completed with the support of industries, recruiters, faculty, alumni and students. Thrust would be given to interdisciplinary courses, laboratory and experiment-oriented learning and academic projects in collaboration with industries, R and D labs and other reputed academic institutions in India and abroad, a press release said. 

Minor degree courses

One of the salient features of the revamped syllabus is offering minor degree programmes by various departments and centres for undergraduate students. On completion of these courses, the students will be conferred with a minor degree apart from the degree in their major stream. These programmes include technological areas such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Alternative Energy Technology, Cyber Physical Systems, Robotics and Automation, Smart Mobility and Electric Vehicle Engineering, Geoinformatics, Building Systems Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Business Analytics, Computational Biology, Photonics and Optical Engineering, and Molecular Modelling and Simulation. 

Open electives

Students can opt for open electives offered by other departments and the thematic centres of the institute. This includes language and communication training and other technical courses. The institute has also revised the curricula of 26 MTech programmes and 3 MSc programmes apart from MPlan and MBA programmes. Two new MTech programmes in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics are being introduced from this academic year. Another is an MTech programme in Electric Vehicle offered online by the Electrical Engineering Department. Candidates can complete the course with an industry sponsorship or self-sponsorship. 

Doctoral programmes

The NIT-C has also revamped its doctoral programmes. The Senate of the institute has decided to offer PhD programmes with and without fellowship to students through multiple schemes.  A unique, first-in-the-country, external direct PhD scheme is introduced to provide opportunities to scientists and engineers in research and development labs and industries without post-graduation, to pursue their PhD, along with their regular job.