Calcutta University has introduced a four-year BTech programme in electronics from the current academic year, replacing its MSc course in electronic science, which has been discontinued.

Vice-chancellor Ashutosh Ghosh said the decision to launch the BTech course was made following approval from the All India Council for Technical Education because the programme is better aligned with industry requirements and employment trends.

“The MSc in electronic science was no longer attracting students, so we decided to discontinue it. The four-year BTech in electronics will include components of VLSI (very large-scale integrated) design and is expected to offer better placement opportunities,” Ghosh said.

“The AICTE approval arrived last week,” he said.

The programme will have an intake of 30 students, who will be admitted through the state joint entrance examination. With the addition of these seats, the total number of BTech seats at the university will increase to 462.

The MSc in electronic science, introduced in the 90s, was run by the science faculty.

Students who had a background in physics would be admitted to the MSc programme.

Those with a BSc in electronics were also allowed to apply for the programme, which offered 40 seats.

A CU official said they had to think of programmes that align with “market demands”.

“Otherwise, public-funded institutions will find it difficult to survive,” he said.

“Private colleges are rapidly adapting to changing industry demands by introducing relevant programmes. We have to keep pace. The master’s programme was no longer attracting enough students,” VC Ghosh said.

Teachers who had been handling the subject at the master’s level will now be reassigned to teach electronics in the BTech programme.

CU had introduced four-year BTech courses in 2015, gradually phasing out its three-year BTech programme meant for BSc graduates after recruiters reportedly found the shorter course inadequate.

In 2024, the university converted its 424 BTech seats into four-year programmes.

A professor at the engineering faculty said it was encouraging that the university was “waking up to reality” by introducing new and relevant subjects. “If we run a programme which fails to attract students, it affects the overall ranking in the exercise conducted by the Union education ministry, known as the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The university has to evolve with time,” the professor said.