Mumbai: Engineering courses will be taught in Marathi language soon in affiliated degree colleges and institutes of the University of Mumbai (MU), as decided by the academic council of the varsity on Tuesday. For Arts, Commerce and Science branches, the first semester of the academic year 2021-22 will be conducted from June 14 to October 30 followed by the second semester from November 15, 2021 to May 1, 2022.
Key decisions were approved by the academic council of MU such as starting new courses in eight branches of engineering keeping in view the industrial needs. The academic council said, "Courses in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Cyber Security, Internet of Things, Data Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering (Data Science), Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), Computer Science and Engineering (Internet of Things and Cyber Security including Blockchain Technology) have been approved."
Further, engineering courses will be taught in Marathi language soon in line with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) recommendation to teach engineering in regional languages.
The academic council has given approval to introduce National Cadet Corps (NCC) as an optional subject in colleges which have NCC units in order to create awareness and increase participation of students. Currently, there are NCC units in about 68 colleges.
For the first time, research field case studies will be included in the university to enhance the skills of the students and to improve their proficiency in a particular field. Regional case studies will be introduced in the fourth session of Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS), Accounting and Finance (BAF) and Banking and Insurance (BBI) courses under Commerce.
The Council said, "For this 30 hours and two credits will be awarded. Field case studies will also be conducted for Botany, Zoology and Chemistry subjects under Science and for Economics, Geography, Sociology under Anthropology."
In addition, MU academic council has approved the establishment of various schools such as School of Indian Languages, School of English and Foreign Languages, School of Social Sciences and School of Performing Arts. The newly launched Center for Marine Studies at the University of Mumbai and the Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies have been approved.
M.A. through the Center for Marine Studies, Maritime Studies, M.Com, Postgraduate diploma courses including Maritime Studies and MSc Maritime Studies will be introduced. M.A. through the Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies and a postgraduate diploma course will be introduced. The Lokmanya Tilak Study Center has sanctioned Certificate courses in Journalism, Astronomy and Guitar Mystery from this academic year. Establishment of ‘Virtual Center of Excellence in Theoretical and Computational Physics’ for the Golden Jubilee of the Department of Physics will be completed.
Under the Maharashtra Public University Act, rules are being prepared to give autonomy to various departments, institutions and schools of the university, through which various committees will be formed for academic independence, flexibility in curriculum and other related matters. The next academic year 2022-23 will start from June 12, 2022.
