BCom (H) course to be revised

NEW DELHI: It seems to be a classic case of "better late than never". More than ten years after it was last restructured, Delhi University''s BCom (honours) course is finally on the road to a complete overhaul.
The commerce department had first proposed the present restructuring about two years ago.
With July 2004 being the target for finalising the new course, the department of commerce is witnessing heated action.
"We had been waiting for the report of the Sharma committee appointed by the vice-chancellor. Work is on in full swing now and we hope to complete the process for the next academic session," said head, department of commerce, S R Khanna.
The restructured course is to incorporate information technology (IT) in a big manner. Apart from a basic introduction to computers, the new BCom syllabus will also include topics like database systems, networking, and management information systems.
The new course is likely to have an integrated structure. This means that marks obtained by a student in subsidiary papers will also contribute towards his score card along with the main papers.
Another important component being proposed is compulsory project work. According to the proposal being discussed, students will have five project options, one of them being an eight-week internship with a business organisation.
Other projects include fieldwork, literature review and Internet search-based project report on a topic of study.
While the nine working groups, formed for restructuring, race against time to finalise the new course, apprehensions remain over implementation. The new IT savvy syllabus will require every college to develop a dedicated computer lab for commerce students.
"Developing lab infrastructure and making commerce teachers IT literate is going to be a key challenge. We are writing letters to the IT ministry and also members of the industry to provide the necessary inputs," said Khanna.
According to officials, the department had proposed restructuring of BCom courses more than two years ago, but the move had been held up due to delays at various levels in DU.
The proposed course had been sent back to the department in June 2002 for incorporating suggestions made by the academic council''s standing committee.
A separate committee had also been constituted by the vice-chancellor to review the existing BCom structure.