College Street: The choice-based credit system to be introduced in Calcutta University's BA and BSc courses will allow an honours student to improve his or her score even if he gets less than 40 per cent at the end of third year.
A student is considered having graduated with honours if his or her cumulative grade point average (CGPA) - the weighted average of the six semester grade point averages - is 40 per cent (4.000) or more.
In the new system, to be introduced in the undergraduate courses in science and humanities from the 2018-19 academic year, a student with a CGPA of less than 4.000 at the end of third year will have the option of taking a test twice in the next two years to improve the score and make the cut.
The university had introduced the system in the BCom course last year.
A rule the university had introduced in 2016 allowed Part I students to reappear in all honours papers to improve their scores. To avail themselves of the facility, the students would have to withdraw from the second-year class.
The CBCS abolishes the system of reappearing in whatever paper one chooses to improve the score in first year.
In the new system, the honours subject will be known as the core course and the elective papers as elective generics.
If a student scores less than 30 per cent (the pass percentage) in the theory component of the core course (50 marks in laboratory-based subjects and 65 in the others), he or she will still be promoted but will have take the test again in a subsequent semester to clear the backlog.
For instance, a backlog in the first (odd) semester - be it in core course or elective generic - can be cleared in the third or fifth semester. Similarly, a backlog in the second (even) semester can be cleared in the fourth or sixth semester.
"A student who has scored 30 per cent or more will not be allowed to write the test once more to improve the score," an official at the university said.
"At the end of the three-year course, if a student's cumulative score in all six semesters is less than 40 per cent, he or she will get two chances in the next two years to make up for the shortfall."
Asked why the CBCS does not allow students to improve their scores in core course papers in the first three years, vice-chancellor Sonali Chakravarty Banerjee said: "We have framed the exam rules in accordance with the broad guidelines of the University Grants Commission. All that could be permitted under the UGC guidelines have been incorporated."
A CU official associated with undergraduate studies said marks scored in the core courses and the elective generic papers over the six semesters would be factored in while calculating the CGPA.
Earlier, the university would mention the marks obtained in the honours and the elective papers separately.
Workshop
The undergraduate council of Calcutta University is going to organise a one-day workshop on "CBCS (choice-based credit system) admission and examination regulations" on May 12 at Meghnad Saha auditorium on the Rajabazar science college campus. The principals of the affiliated colleges in Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly and South 24-Parganas districts have been asked to attend the meeting. Details have been uploaded on www.caluniv.ac.in.
