Financial Support

Assistance from the UGC will be available to the tune of Rs. 5 lakh as one time 'Seed Money' for five years in the Humanities and Commerce streams and one time 'Seed Money' of Rs. 7 lakhs will be granted for five years for the Science stream. The Colleges/Universities have to opt for a minimum of five courses in each stream of Humanities, Commerce and Science.

As physical inputs are essential for the implementation of the programme, qualitative and descriptive details of existing infrastructure, library resources, laboratories and workshops should be clearly specified in the application. The equipment and laboratory resources should be adequate in the institution for starting the career-oriented programmes. The applicant institutions must work out the economics and viability of each course before sending their proposal to the UGC. While working out economics both academic and administrative expenditures should be taken into account.

The Principal, Co-ordinators and other staff/members who are involved in the career oriented courses and who, in addition to their workload, have to perform a number of functions such as arranging guest faculty, liasing with employing establishments for practical training of students, supervising the field work and project work of the students of career oriented courses etc., may be paid suitable honorarium out of the resource generated by the Institutions.

A college/university (which has undergraduate teaching departments) may indicate in its proposal the name of the career-oriented courses and a minimum five subjects/areas of skills from each discipline of Science, Humanities and Commerce that it proposes to introduce. However, the Colleges must inform their affiliating University about the subjects for which they are applying. In turn, Universities should plan framing of respective syllabus to be made available to the Colleges to start the programme on time. Accordingly, colleges/university/institution should send their proposal (Annexure-I) directly to the Joint Secretary (VE), University Grants Commission, 35-Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi-110 001 within the stipulated date. A copy of proposal should also be sent through the University. Proposals received later than the stipulated date or incomplete will not be entertained.

It may be noted that the course subject that an institution proposes will be introduced in the existing three degree programmes by way of add-on skill oriented subjects during the first, second and third year of education as Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma Courses along with conventional degree programmes of B.A., B.Com. and B.Sc., respectively.

Detailed syllabi, indicating, the distribution of time between theory, practical/field, work/dissertation and pre-requisites for the choice of subjects, and periods to be allotted etc. have to be worked out under the scheme by the Universities based on the UGC proposed scheme for framing the syllabus. The courses must be organized in an effective manner and the credit values of the various components clearly indicated.

Combination of subjects: It is envisaged to provide flexibility in choice of the combination of subjects, without any limitation. The colleges and universities are free to identify local need based career oriented course/inter-disciplinary courses of their choice. They may seek help from Industry/Service organizations and NGOs as well as individuals to develop the course design, contents and implementation methodology.

Practical Training: While framing Career Oriented Courses, a distinction between career oriented subjects and other academic subjects would be made in terms of practical training, in its quality, quantum and modalities of organization. The content/nature of practical work must be skill oriented and aim at the development of marketable skills. Industrial collaboration and linkage with the concerned organizations and institutions as well as prospective employment agencies, need to be taken care of.

Field Institutions/Training: This is one of the most important aspects of the Career/Soft Skilled Oriented Programme. The collaborating organizations/NGOs/Institutions would accept students and allow them to participate in their profession/service activities.

The maximum number of students in one course of the Career Oriented Programme should not exceed 30 to 40 in the average class size to maintain quality and standard of teaching.

Faculty - The following staff members could be involved in teaching, training and administration of the programme: - Principal of the College/Head of the Department of the University.

Coordinator of each course who will be responsible for the academic and administrative aspects.

Certificate Course: The Course will be of 30 credits. Each credit will have 15 hours of workload out of which 10 credits should necessarily be assigned to field work/project work/training. The proof of this should be submitted during examination e.g. work experience certificate/dissertation/report etc. duly issued and signed by the concerned institutional authority/coordinator/faculty.

Diploma Course: The Course will be of 60 credits (30 credits earned during Certificate Course). Each credit will have 15 hours of workload out of this 10 credits should necessarily be assigned to field work/project work/training. The proof of this should be submitted during the examination.

Advanced Diploma Course: The Course will be of 90 credits (60 credits earned together during Certificate and Diploma Courses respectively). Each credit will have 15 hours of workload. Out of this 10 credits should necessarily be assigned to field work/project work/training. The proof of this (field work/project work/training) should be submitted during the examination.

Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma in Career Oriented Programmes will be awarded on the basis of examination results and credits earned. Students may be permitted to complete Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma in the same subject/course or by completing the credits from other Interdisciplinary Career Oriented Courses.

Issue of Certificate: Any College interested in awarding the University Certificate must apply to the university well in advance and approval of the Academic Bodies will be required. Once the university approves the college proposal, the college will issue the joint certificate with name of University and College.

All proposals received in the prescribed application form by the stipulated date will be placed before the Expert Committee constituted by the UGC. Based on the information provided in the proposals and keeping in view the provisions given under 'Guidelines', institutions will be short-listed based on the following criteria:

The Expert Committee will discuss the short listed proposals in an 'Interface meeting', with representatives of respective institutions and make recommendations about the institutions and subject/course to be allotted.

Institutions thus selected will be informed of the approval of their proposals soon after the UGC has accepted the recommendations of the Expert Committee.

Institutions selected for support should prepare a prospectus informing the students of the nature and scope of the subject, an outline of the syllabus, minimum conditions which students must fulfil, time schedule, nature of project and field work/laboratory/training experiences to be imparted.

The College/University will develop a 'Career Orientation Council' which will maintain a profile of local job opportunities and will provide data support for career courses. The Council will also monitor the career courses of the College and provide necessary feed back reports periodically to the UGC.

The college should maintain a record of students who have completed the three-year degree course along with a "career-oriented course" so that information is available about the activity/status of these graduates.