LAHORE, Jan 15: The National Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC) of the University Grants Commission has recommended introduction of courses on management skill development in the master of public administration programme.

It also recommended that students should take eight additional credit hours on management skills.

The NCRC made these recommendations at the end of a three-day meeting which revised the existing curriculum. The committee also proposed four-year bachelors programme of 130 credit hours which may be completed in three years provided classes are held regularly in summer vacation.

The 12-member committee meeting was convened by Prof Dr Zafar Iqbal Jadoon, director of the Institute of Administrative Sciences, Punjab University. Professors from different universities attended the meeting. The revised scheme of studies will now be circulated among universities teaching the course for comments.

Prof Jadoon told Dawn that the committee also recommended that thesis writing should be made compulsory for every student as well as a comprehensive examination should be held at the end of the course.

He said the committee had thoroughly revised the existing curriculum and proposed to introduce modern areas of specialization like health administration, development management, human resource management in addition to existing subjects like MIS, marketing and finance. He hoped that the new curricula would improve quality of education.

Meanwhile, a three-day NCRC meeting started at the UGC regional centre on Tuesday to finalize the graduate and postgraduate botany curricula.

IAS: The Institute of Administrative Sciences, Punjab University, on Tuesday formally launched the masters in management information system (MIS) and masters in public administration in the afternoon.

Prof Jadoon told students that the programme would train and produce graduates having skills in general management and computer management. It was an internationally recognized degree, he added.

The regular classes of both the afternoon programmes will start on Monday.