Jadavpur University has already bagged the status of being one of the country?s five best institutions.

Now, after 10 years, the university is set to introduce radical changes in the examination rules of its engineering and technology courses.

The restructuring exercise, university officials say, is primarily aimed at upgrade of the existing examination system to the standards maintained by the IITs and other engineering institutions of high repute in the country.

The upgrade is also aimed at remodelling the examination rules in Jadavpur University to enable students to get a well-balanced academic and professional training.

This can help them not only to meet the changing demands of the industries but also provide them with the right kind of coaching to pursue teaching and research in the field of engineering.

?Our engineering and technology department is already known as one of the best in the country,? asserted Manoj Mitra, dean of Jadavpur University engineering and technology faculty.

?But our existing examination rules, beginning from fixation of qualifying marks in every subject to criteria for promotion from one year to the other, need further upgrade if we have to compete with other institutions of high repute,? he explained.

?The present concept of engineering education calls for promotion of excellence over mediocrity and that is what we intend to do by overhauling our exam rules,? Mitra added.

The significant changes that have been proposed mainly involve fixation of the minimum qualifying marks and promotions criteria for the students.

Some of the proposed rules are as follows:

* Pass marks for every subject will be lowered to 30 per cent from 50 per cent

* Class tests will carry 25 marks

* Five marks will be allotted for attendance

* Each student must clear all first year backlog to be promoted from second to third year.