Jadavpur University on Wednesday scrapped its 51-year-old MA course in international relations and replaced it with a masters course in political science with international relations.

The move to abolish the course had started in 2009 after the state college service commission announced that it would not treat masters degree holders in international relations from JU on a par with those with an MA in political science from other institutes. The panel had claimed that the international relations syllabus contained more topics on history than political science.

“The new degree will be awarded to students taking admission this year,” said Anindya Jyoti Majumdar, the head of the department.