Telangana: Diploma courses to focus on theory

Curriculum to undergo major changes this academic year

Hyderabad: The diploma courses curriculum will undergo major changes this academic year with more weightage to theory than the practical courses. Doing away with equal weightage for theory and practicals, the theory courses’ weightage has been enhanced.

As per the new curriculum, the course structure will contain six theory and four laboratory courses in each semester for five semesters except for the sixth semester during which the students must undertake industry internships.

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Following this change, each semester comprises 20 credits with each theory and practical course having 2.5 and 1.25 credits respectively. Students will be awarded diplomas on securing a total of 120 credits in six semesters as per the AICTE norms.

Making these changes, the State Board of Technical Education and Training (SBTET) formulated a new curriculum named C-24 as the existing C-21 curriculum ended with the academic year 2023-24. The Board revises the diploma courses curriculum once every three years and it is due for the academic year 2024-25.

For designing the new curriculum, the Board tasked the experts to study diploma courses curriculum offered by various technical institutions in the different States in the country and Asia.

This time, add-on courses and minor programmes have been accorded priority as part of the polytechnic education. The minor programme allows students to pursue courses from other diplomas as well. For instance, diploma in ECE students can pursue ECE subjects as a major but they can take up a course in CSE as a minor programme. Following successful completion, the student will be awarded a diploma in ECE with a minor in CSE programme.

Also starting this academic year, students will be allowed to pursue five theory courses of the programme concerned through the Massive Open Online Courses – like SWAYAM and NPTEL. Credits obtained in these courses can be transferred for award of diploma.

“The new curriculum has been sent to the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NTTTR) for a nod. Following an approval, it will come into force from the academic year 2024-25,” a senior official said.