North Bengal University, Siliguri

Siliguri, Dec. 17: North Bengal University will soon offer MPhil courses in science subjects as well. The move is part of the varsity’s plan to expand its MPhil programme to cover more subjects.

“We want to extend our MPhil programme to all the 24 subjects in which we offer master’s degrees,” registrar T.K. Chatterjee told The Telegraph. “A special committee has been set up to look into this aspect.” Currently, NBU offers MPhil courses in six subjects — political science, history, philosophy, Nepali, Himalayan studies and economics.

The latest initiative follows the recent UGC decision that a candidate holding an MPhil degree would be eligible to teach in colleges even if s/he has not qualified the National Eligibility Test or the State-Level Eligibility Test.

Ever since the policy decision last year, there has been a renewed interest among students to pursue MPhil courses, Chatterjee said.

“The special committee is identifying the streams which will require an infrastructure upgrade and we hope to get most of these courses underway by the next academic session,” the registrar said.

The varsity offers one-year MPhil programmes, of which six months are devoted to classroom studies and the remaining to the dissertation.

The varsity also plans to introduce short-term certificate courses. “The courses, designed to give an extra edge, can be pursued alongside post-graduate courses,” the registrar said.

Business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing and insurance and risk management are some of the courses lined up by the university.