Jadavpur: Jadavpur University on Monday decided to launch a common engineering curriculum from the 2018-19 session to enable it to get recognition from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

Without the accreditation, the university will not be eligible for central funds.

The introduction of the curriculum - prepared by the All India Council for Technical Education - is one of the conditions the university has to comply with before appealing for funds.

The decision to approve the curriculum came after a debate among teachers on whether it would dilute the standard of engineering education at the university.

Metro on May 12 had reported about a rift among teachers over a common curriculum. Teachers against the move had argued it would deny the students an opportunity to start specialising in their fields from the first year.

The other camp had said a thorough knowledge in the basic sciences in the first year would help students excel in their fields later on.

Those against the move relented after they were told that Anil Sahasrabudhe, the AICTE chairman, has made it clear to VC Suranjan Das that the NBA recognition is mandatory, a professor present at Monday's meeting of the faculty council of engineering and technology said.

Chiranjib Bhattacharya, engineering dean, said the university would start framing the syllabus in accordance with the curriculum. "The syllabus in 14 engineering disciplines (excluding pharmacy and architecture) will have three components - basic science, humanities and social science and engineering science. The subjects that will be covered in the first two groups will follow a common syllabus.

"The six subjects under engineering science will be bi-modular and it would take care of the need for specialising in the first year," he said.

Pharmacy is run by the Pharmacy Council and architecture by the Council of Architecture.

Till the 2017-18 session, first-year students had to learn basic sciences and some chapters from their fields.

The new syllabus will be tabled at a meeting of the executive council - the university's highest decision-making body - on May 25 for approval.

"Now, after the first-year results are declared, we will have a common merit list," a department head said. It will help students switch from one stream to another in the second year, he said.