Calcutta University (CU) will introduce the semester system and grades at the undergraduate level by 2011, replacing the 1+1+1 examination pattern and marks.

CU and all other state-aided universities across the country will have to introduce the semester-grade system at the undergraduate level before the 11th Plan period ends in 2011, University Grants Commission chairman Sukhdeo Thorat said on Friday.

“We have written to Calcutta University, informing it about our proposal to introduce the semester system and grades. The university’s response is positive,” said Thorat.

He was speaking after attending a special convocation of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University at the Ramakrishna Math and Mission headquarters in Belur.

The Centre is trying to upgrade higher education by setting up more colleges and universities and introducing a set of reforms during the 11th Plan period.

The reforms include replacement of annual examinations with half-yearly semester tests, introduction of grades, regular assessment of teachers and improvement of the quality of research.

Thorat said the commission would extend all help to CU to introduce the semester system and grades.

University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das admitted having received the UGC letter. “We are not opposed to the proposal. We are ready to implement it much before 2011 if there is adequate support from the Centre.”

The semester system has already been introduced in some postgraduates courses of the university.

Das stressed that the “entire examination system of CU and the infrastructure of the affiliated colleges” need to be overhauled to introduce semester tests and grades at the undergraduate level.

The university conducts around 600 examinations, postgraduate and undergraduate, in a year. More than three lakh students take the tests, generating around 18 lakh answer scripts.

“The evaluation system has to be centralised after the introduction of semesters and grades, or else results will be declared late. And there should be more teachers in colleges and the university if we are to hold the tests every six months. Last but not the least, the colleges must have good infrastructure,” the vice-chancellor pointed out.

“Since education is on the concurrent list, we expect the Centre to share the cost of introducing the changes with the state government,” Das said.

The UGC chairman announced that the state would soon get a number of autonomous colleges. “Some colleges from Bengal have applied to the UGC for autonomous status. We are examining the proposals. They will be granted autonomy shortly,” Thorat added.

Two Ramakrishna Mission-run colleges, in Narendrapur and Belur, are among the institutions that have sought autonomy. “We are waiting for the UGC clearance,” vice-chancellor Das said.

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University conferred a D.Litt (honoris causa) on Shankari Prasad Basu, former professor of Bengali at Calcutta University.

He was awarded the degree for his contribution to research on Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita and Subhas Chandra Bose.

Isro chairman G. Madhavan Nair and Swami Prabhananda, the general secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Mission and chancellor of the university, were among those who attended the convocation.