Jadavpur: Jadavpur University has dropped a subject from the proposed syllabus for the first-year engineering students to resolve a difference among the departments that came in the way of the implementation of the curriculum.

The bone of contention - Thermo Fluid Science - is no longer part of the proposed common curriculum for the first-year students, dean of engineering Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya said.

The syllabus of the subject was drawn up by the mechanical engineering department.

Other departments alleged that the course had been designed in a way that only students of mechanical engineering would benefit from it.

The opposition to the subject prevented the authorities from tabling the proposed common curriculum at the May 25 meeting of the executive council. The curriculum cannot be introduced without the approval of the council, the highest policy-making body of the university.

The university had on May 21 decided to launch a common engineering curriculum for the first-year students in the 2018-19 academic year so it could seek the National Board of Accreditation's recognition.

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

The introduction of a common curriculum for the first-year students is one of the conditions the university has to fulfil before applying for funds.

The proposed first-year curriculum for all 14 engineering disciplines has three components - basic science, humanities and social science, and engineering science.

The authorities had kept six subjects in the engineering science category - Thermo Fluid Science, Computer Programming and Numerical, Engineering Mechanics, Introduction to Electronics, Electrical Technology and Engineering Drawing.

The subjects are supposed to prepare the students for the specialisations they will opt for in the second year.

"The other departments said the mechanical engineering department had loaded Thermo Fluid Science with critical components of mechanical engineering," dean Bhattacharya said.

"Teachers of, say, computer science and engineering or printing technology wondered how their students would cope with the subject."

To find a solution to the problem, Bhattacharya said, the authorities have decided to drop the subject from the proposed curriculum. The subject has been included in the second-year curriculum of mechanical engineering.

"As department-specific subjects will be taught from the second year, students of mechanical engineering will study Thermo Fluid Science in the second year. The revised syllabus, with only five subjects in the engineering science category, will be tabled before the executive council for approval," he said.