KARACHI: Proposal for early commencement of session at KU
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 13: The authorities of University of Karachi are considering changing the academic calender to get more talented students on the varsity's rolls, said sources on the campus.
It was learnt that a proposal by chairperson, Department of Computer Science, KU with regard to advancement of the existing academic calender by four months would be taken up, among other items on agenda, by the university's academic council on July 19.
If the proposal is approved, the university after two and half years will be able to start its academic session from September 1, added the source. In a report submitted to the vice-chancellor, the chairperson pointed out that at present the academic session commenced on January 1, while other institutions of higher education started their sessions in the first or second week of August.
The institutions in question started their admission campaigns from early June, while KU normally began its admission process in October or November, it said. The drawback of the late commencement of admission process at KU being its failure to attract talented students, who prefer to join other institutions, particularly professional ones, in order to save time.
Resultantly, the university ends up getting slightly less talented or second grade students, the chairperson opined, while advocating that the new academic calendar be started from September 1 to June 30 each year.
He viewed that ending the academic session on June 30, had another plus point for students who liked to go abroad for higher studies. They would be able to join foreign universities within a month of finishing their studies, while at present they had to wait at least 10 months to join the academic session at foreign varsities, he added.
As per the existing practice, teaching for the two semesters at KU starts in January and July, but the proposed change requires perpetual advancement in the commencement of semesters.
The plan, which would come under consideration of members of the academic council, emphasised for commencement of first and second semesters' teaching from December 13 and June 1 respectively for session 2004-05, and November 1 and April 3 in 2005-06. The session 2006-07 and onwards would start from September 1 and end on June 30.
