By Niyati Rana, Ahmedabad Mirror
After the successful implementation of the concept of '100 Activity Points' in degree engineering courses, Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has introduced it in the four-year Bachelor of Pharmacy course this academic year. The decision was taken at an academic council meeting. Affiliated colleges have been informed that, starting academic year 2019-20, BPharm students will have to earn at least 100 activity points additionally over four years of the course to be eligible to get their degree.
According to the varsity, the idea of getting students to earn 100 activity points (from activities other than academics) is aimed at ensuring their holistic development and making them industry-ready. The points can be earned via training and activities that gives students a peek into real-time professional skills apart from co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.
"Industry needs professionals who can work successfully in teams, who have leadership qualities, who are alive to social and community needs and who can bring innovation and creativity to their work. Hence, in order to prepare its students to match these multifarious requirements, GTU has created a unique mechanism of awarding Holistic Activity (100 Activity Points) over and above the academic grades. It is envisaged that the students at GTU will be able to reap benefits from these activities at their own pace and comfort," reads the notification sent to colleges. The activity points must be earned through active participation in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities spanning all semesters of study.
Principal of LJ College of Pharmacy, Shreeraj Shah said that it was his college that had proposed to expand 100 Activity Points from engineering to pharmacy course. "The programme has benefited degree engineering students by helping them acquire newer skillsets as per industry requirement. In degree pharmacy course, colleges and institutes can opt for Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to encourage students to learn beyond academics. Apart from this, activity points can also be earned through activities that expose students to clinical aspect of pharmacy, pathological report interpretation, laboratory training, medical-shop training, medical coding training, elderly health care, clinical aspect of patient counseling. All this will help them be better professionals," he said.
Students can also learn English language as one of the activities and participate in sports activities. As per the old syllabus, BPharm course has 267 credits. As per the new syllabus-which will complete one cycle in 2020-21, the course is of 209 credits.
MT Chhabria, principal of LM College of Pharmacy, said that the move was necessary for overall development of students. "Our college always had such activities for students. Now they can also get points for the same," he said. He added that with changing employment market, it was necessary for students to acquire skills beyond academics. "We often send students to villages to study health care system and find a solution. Exposing them to these activities improves their perspective and sense of responsibility towards the profession they aim to enter," he said.
Navin Sheth, vice-chancellor of GTU, said that the proposal was discussed thoroughly in the academic council before its implementation. "After its success in degree engineering, it is now being extended to degree pharmacy course as well," He added that AICTE also has included this in the model course for professional courses after observing GTU's model. "We will expand this to master's courses as well, but with 50 points as it is a two-year course," he said.
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