Choice Based Credit System in Higher education | New Topic

Choice Based Credit System in Higher education

In Indian educational system, evaluation plays a vital role between teaching and learning process. It completes several system of education like the quality control in the education system, in selection or entrance for higher grades.

In the words of Kothari Commission,” Evaluation is a continuous process, forms an integral part of the total system of education and is intimately related to educational objectives. It exercises a great influence of the pupil’s study habits and the teacher’s methods of instruction and thus helps not only to measure educational achievement but also to improve it. The techniques of evaluation are means of collection evidence about the student’s development in desirable directions.”

The Ministry of Human Resource and Development of India are in the process for New Educational Policies to develop and reform the educational system of our country.  Several steps are being taken to improve the excellence, efficiency for the Higher Education System like change in the curriculum, change in the education system, etc.

In most institutes for higher education, Semester system or percentage based evaluation system are being followed.

There’s a lot of buzz in introducing the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) in higher education for evaluation purpose.

Now, what is Choice Based Credit System?

As already mentioned above, most of the educational institutions follow marks or percentage based evaluation systems which restrict the students to take up the subject or the course of their choice.  Our educational system should be flexible that is, the student must get a choice to study his/her course/subject of interest. It can only be possible if the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) are being introduced.

The CBCS opens up many opportunities and path for the students to learn and explore not only the subject of their choice but beyond which also develops ones individual self. These courses can further be evaluated through grading system, which is considered to be better than the age old marking system. It is better if we introduce and follow the uniform grading system across India which will further help the students to move across institutions within India and across countries.

Not only it will help the students but also the potential employers to assess the performance of the candidates uniformly through evaluation system and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) based on the student’s performance in the examination. One can also check the link below and make out how UGC has made the guidelines which have to be followed.

Source UGC Guideline

We must be familiar with the structure and implementation of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS). They are as follows:

• The approach should be student centric. That is, the CBCS system will permit the students to choose their choice of courses like inter or intra disciplinary courses, skill based courses, etc. It gives relaxation to students to take up the course even they are from different disciplines like a student can combine Physics with Economics likewise.
• The student has the freedom to complete their course from different institutions at different period of time.  It can also transfer the points or the credit which the student gets from one institute to other.  Hence, if the CBCS system gets implemented it will be good for a student as it provides flexibility and also meet their requirement.
• The students get the privilege to choose the subjects of their choice. They are being classified as different groups which allow the students to choose their choice of subjects from each group. UGC has categorized as mentioned below:
• Core Course – In core course, the student have to compulsory study the core or the main subject to fulfill the requirement of the programme of that particular discipline which he/she is studying. Core courses will be there in every semester.
• Elective Course – In elective course, the student can choose any paper of his/her choice. It could be :
  • Discipline Specific Elective Course like it will support the discipline of study with the main subject.
  • It could provide an extended scope for the student to study further.
  • It also gives the student the exposure to some other areas.
  • It also nurtures the student’s proficiency/skill on any particular subject.
• Generic Elective
• Project
• Ability Enhancement Courses
• Skill Enhancement Course
• Foundation Course – there are two types of Foundation courses – Compulsory Foundation and Elective Foundation.
  • Compulsory Foundation course are content based which leads a student for their knowledge improvement. They are compulsory for all disciplines.
  • Elective Foundation course are based upon values which aims at man-making education.

• Semester system is followed on Choice Based Credit System (CBCS System). Two semesters are conducted in a year were a student’s performance gets evaluated and grading are done subject wise.
• Various methods are followed for evaluation basis on the suitability of the course which is approved by various legislative bodies.
• UGC recommends Letter Grades and Grade Point Systems to be applied in giving the grades under the CBCS System.
• Letter Grades – It is based upon the allocation of marks which a student gets from his/her course and grades are given basis upon their marks or percentage.
• Grade Point Systems – Here the marks are converted into grades based upon the fixed period.

Grade and Grade Points

Basis upon these the colleges or universities can use any of the methods. UGC recommends 10- point grading system with the following letter grades:

• When there are large number of students CBCS system has to be implemented with online system to meet the requirements effectively. It will help the students to choose the subjects and teachers of their choice.  But, there should also be restriction that if a student fits into the eligibility criteria of the institution then only they can choose the subjects of their choice.
• Through online system, the teachers would also be able to share their notes, discuss the subjects with their students, take tests, etc.
• The online system should be user friendly and easy for the teachers. It should also be able to print the mark sheets as per the institutions requirements.
• After the selection of the subjects by the students a time table could be generated which would help the students and the teachers to be aware of their class and subjects.
• The online system also helps the teachers in taking attendance of their subjects for each student. It will decrease the work load in maintaining the register and would be easy to calculate the percentage for each student.
• The system should be able to generate report as and when required. It should be programmed as per the institutions requirements like report for student’s performance, subject wise report, attendance report, etc.
• The system should be able to store past records and data so that it could be easily accessible as and when required.  It would also help the institution to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of its system in future.

Computation of SGPA and CGPA

UGC recommends Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA) and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). We can calculate the SGPA in the following manner:

• It is the ratio of the sum of the product of the number of credits with the grade points which a student scored and the sum of the number of credits of all the courses which a student has  undergone, ie

SGPA (Si) = (Ci x Gi) / Ci

• The CGPA is calculated taking into consideration of all the courses a student undergoes of all the semesters of the programme, ie

CGPA (Ci) = (Ci x Si) / Ci

Find below is the illustrative Computation of SGPA and CGPA

Illustration of SGPA

Thus, SGPA = 130/20 = 6.5

Illustration of CGPA

Thus CGPA = 20×6.9 + 22×7.8 + 25×5.6 + 26×6.0 + 26×6.3 + 25×8.0/144=6.73

Source : UGC

Transcript (Format) – Based on the above example on Letter Grades, Letter Points, SGPA, CGPA, students results are consolidated for each semester and a consolidated report are made indicating the performance of the student in all semesters.