The Cambridge School near Hazra is set to launch an undergraduate institution called the Calcutta School of Economics (CSE) that will offer University of London degrees.

“Our students will be enrolled for the University of London International Programmes. On completion of the three-year courses, they will get the same degrees that students of the London School of Economics and Political Science get,” said Sarojesh C. Mukherjee, the director of The Cambridge School.

Students of the Calcutta-based international school, operating in the city for nine years, can now appear in O and A-level exams.

The undergraduate institute will offer degree courses in economics, economics and management, business, accounting and finance.

LSE will draw up the syllabi of the proposed courses, write subject guides, develop online material, prepare question papers and mark answer scripts. The University of London will provide the degree.

“A student studying economics at CSE will have the same syllabus as a student from LSE,” said Mukherjee.

Students will be admitted to CSE directly if they meet the eligibility criteria. Others will be selected from applicants who have the cut-off marks and on the basis of their performance in an admission test on English and mathematics.

The fee for a three-year degree course is Rs 5.10 lakh. An equivalent LSE course costs Rs 40 lakh.

The first batch of CSE students will begin classes on the Cambridge School premises on August 1. Classes will be held from 3pm to 8pm.

Like The Cambridge School that has a student-teacher ration of 20:1, CSE will not have more than 20 students in each class. The batch would comprise 60 to 80 students.

“The LSE pedagogy is very different from the one in colleges here. For every two hours of classes, we will have three hours of tutorials and seminars, for which smaller classes are necessary,” said Mukherjee.

Teaching will be application-oriented rather than theory-oriented and dependent on case studies. In the first year, all students will have to learn math, economics, accounting, business management and sociology before they can specialise. Examinations will be conducted by the British Council and papers will be marked at LSE. The CSE students will be able to use the LSE online library, which includes journals, articles and books.

“The only difference between students here and on the London campus will be that they will not be physically at the university and will be taught by a different faculty,” said Mukherjee.

CSE students will be able to apply to the Calcutta and Delhi universities for admission to masters programmes.