LAHORE, July 18: Higher Education Commission’s National Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC) in petroleum engineering has recommended establishment of video libraries in all universities to illustrate engineering processes and techniques that are otherwise difficult to understand through books.

The committee said the commission should act as a resource centre for the universities by obtaining and making available technical videos from different sources.

The seven-member NCRC convened by Engr Dr Obed-ur-Rehman Paracha met at HEC’s Lahore regional centre and finalized the BE/BSc petroleum engineering curriculum besides identifying postgraduate level core courses.

The finalized curriculum will be circulated among all universities in the country for adoption after getting it approved through their relevant boards of studies.

The committee called for making efforts to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning process to take full advantage of the new curriculum.

For this purpose, it asked the commission to organize teachers’ training in teaching methodologies besides enhancing teachers-industry interaction and ensuring regular participation of teachers in relevant conferences. It said the universities should take necessary steps and provide financial resources for the purpose.

It said that the examination system should also be improved to examine whether students had properly learnt about basic concepts and were able to apply the concepts independently.

It also recommended that teaching aids like white boards, overhead projectors and multi-media projectors must be provided in all classes.

The NCRC recommended that a four-year BE/BSc petroleum engineering course should have at least 140 to 150 credit hours. It said that a term should spread over 16 working weeks.

Identifying minimum requirements to start postgraduate studies in petroleum engineering, the committee recommended that the respective universities must include at least two qualified instructors having PhD degree in petroleum engineering. It said that the course should have at least 30 credit hours that include four credit hours of thesis. It said the students must maintain GPA of 3.0 out of 4.

The other six members of the committee are: Engr Javaid Afzal, Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman Memon, Engr Shahzad Ali Baladi, Engr Muhammad Inamullah, Engr Azam Khan and Engr Zahid Husain Khan. HEC Lahore regional centre director Muhammad Riaz Cheema and assistant director (curriculum) Tahir Ali Shah conducted the NCRC meeting.