05 February 2004	Thursday	13 Zilhaj 1424

LAHORE, Feb 4: The National Curriculum Revision Committee of the Higher Education Commission has recommended introduction of banking specialization course in the M.Com curriculum to enable graduates play their due role in the banking sector.

The M Com curriculum is currently offering specializations in finance, accounting and marketing.

The NCRC recommended it at a recent three-day meeting called to revise the M.Com and B.Com curricula at the HEC regional campus.

The 17-member committee, comprising senior commerce professors from universities and colleges from all over the country and representatives of user organizations, was convened by Prof Dr Anwar Ali Shah G Syed, dean faculty of commerce and business administration, University of Sindh, Jamshoro. Punjab University's Hailey College of Commerce Principal Prof Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad acted as secretary to the committee.

The commerce curriculum was last revised in 2001 and of late a strong need was felt to revise the courses to incorporate the latest trends in the field.

When contacted, Prof Anwar said some titles in the B Com and M Com had been changed and new ones incorporated to meet the market requirements. He said the contents of almost all the courses had been updated. "The objective of the whole exercise is to provide basic knowledge to the students so that they can play their due role in the field of commerce," he added.

For better implementation of the revised curriculum, he said the committee had suggested that teacher training and orientation programmes might be arranged in all universities and commerce colleges across the country to enable them to teach revised courses.

It also suggested that regular refresher courses should be arranged at university level in all the provinces and the funds for this purpose would be provided by the HEC. A case-study method of teaching should be introduced for imparting the commerce education.

The committee said the recommendations made at the NCRC meetings in 1978, 1990, 1995 and 2001 regarding the appointment of the heads/principals with minimum M.Com degree in commerce institutions should be implemented in letter and spirit. "There should be a right man for the right post," it emphasized.

Besides, it called for the regular revision of syllabi to meet the country's academic needs, and resolved that a meeting of the qualified teachers be held at least once a year on regional basis and every two years at the HEC level.

The NCRC said the HEC should organize meetings of the local commerce colleges and business associations in the area of each university to improve and update the curricula.

Owing to lack of financial resources, the committee felt that it was not possible for each university and commerce college to get various international journals on finance, marketing, accounting, management, information technology, research and other related fields.

The committee, therefore, proposed that the HEC should subscribe the important journals of commerce for its library and supply photostat copies of articles from these on request for the benefit of teachers and students. It also said that the institutions should send their respective demands to the HEC.

The body also recommended that separate grant for libraries should be provided at university level for each commerce department. A special grant should be provided for promotion of IT and establishment of computer labs in this respect, it added.

The NCRC also recommended that the HEC should arrange a meeting for development of syllabi for M Phil and PhD programmes in the field of commerce, besides resolving to recommend and establish a Centre of Excellence in Commerce to promote research activities.