Minors Briefing for Second Years

An interactive session was organized by the Students’ Council, NIT Tiruchirappalli on September 6, 2017 at Barn Hall to acquaint second year students about the Minors and Electives program offered under the flexible curriculum.

The minors program, which allows the students to opt for electives from departments other than their own, was initiated in 2016.The briefing began with the professors explaining the basic difference between minors and open electives and informing the students about various measures adopted in order to make the curriculum even more flexible and student-friendly.

The students were informed that there are a total of 10 electives which include PE (Program Elective), OE (Open Elective) and Minors that a student can opt for. If he/she undertakes a minor course, five of those should be chosen from one particular department only. While the students are free to opt for the elective courses from more than one department, they would not be awarded the minors degree in that case. Also a student can have only a maximum of 7 courses per semester including electives and/or the minor course they have opted for. This was followed by a question-answer session to quench all the doubts that the students had. The various possibilities that a student may find himself in were also discussed. It was clarified that a student who has opted for minors program can withdraw from it in the later semesters with the effect that the course in question would then be considered as an OE and not as minor. Similarly if one did not apply for minors but is interested to pursue a course offered as a minor, he/she can opt for it as an OE course. It was also mentioned that 2 minors cannot be opted by a student. Also, it was brought to the notice of students that according to the new guidelines a student is said to have satisfied the pre-requisites to register for a course if he/she has met the attendance requirements and had written all the assessments; irrespective of the grade point secured. Moreover, doubts regarding Honors program were also clarified.

The professors also mentioned that further queries can be mailed at ugsection@nitt.edu which would be duly addressed and posted as FAQ on the NITT website.

The briefing, thus helped students get a clear idea of various possible options available to them under the flexible curriculum. This would definitely go a long way in helping students make wise and conscious decisions.

• Abhilasha Nagpal