Students of BCA demand better infrastructure. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, April 2: North Bengal University will carry out a fact-finding exercise in all its colleges offering BBA and BCA courses in the wake of widespread protests by students who got abysmal marks in the first, third and fifth semester exams.

“We have formed a committee that includes the inspector of colleges and the deans of the faculty of science as well as arts, commerce and law,” said registrar Dilip Sarkar.

“The team will take stock of all aspects of teaching and learning in the colleges and the university, focusing on infrastructure, strength and quality of faculty members and availability of library and laboratory facilities. They will also study the attendance of teachers and students,” the registrar added.

The drive will look into the handling of finances too. “Colleges are expected to use a major portion of the fees collected from self-financed courses for the benefit of the students,” Sarkar said.

The registrar said the exercise would take a month. “Afterwards, we will formulate steps to improve the courses.”

Currently, eight colleges and the Information Technology Centre of the varsity offer BBA and BCA courses. All are self-financed with over 2,000 students on the rolls.

BBA and BCA students of the IT Centre went on the rampage on Monday after the results were published. Less than 10 per cent had passed the first semester exams of the courses and those who did, scored less than 50 per cent. Yesterday, students of Siliguri College, which offers BBA, joined the protests. They complained about the lack of facilities in the institutions.

Semester system

North Bengal University will introduce the semester system for all its post-graduate courses from the 2008-09 academic session. “The proposal from the faculty council of arts, commerce and law, was passed in a meeting of the Executive Council on Monday,” Sarkar said. “The committee has asked the science faculty to submit its proposal soon.”