Monday 10 December 2012

Re: [pakgrid] Time to redesign 4 year BS program

 

Dear All
 
I agree with Dr Qasim proposal of two layer formal BS degree program for Computer science with addition of Operating system as the 10th course out of the 20 in the 1st 2-year part of the program. The 1st 2-year part could be considered/termed as the "foundation" of the program. 
 
Dr Aftab Maroof

On Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 11:23 AM, Qasim Sheikh <qs358@yahoo.com> wrote:
 

Under Dr. Ata Ur Rehman's vision and HEC guidance universities in Pakistan to a large extent have moved to a 4 year BS program that is: 
1.   10 years of high school (matriculation), two years of college (Intermediate), 4 years of university undergraduate program (B.S) and then 4 years of Ph. D.  

Our program used to be:

2.  10 years of high school (matriculation), two years of college (Intermediate), 2 years of college (B. Sc.), 2 years of university graduate program (M.Sc.), 2 years of university graduate program (M.Phil) and then 2 to 4 years of Ph. D. 

Both programs have their strengths and weaknesses.  Looking at our socio-economic realities we need to readjust program 1 that is to a large extent a poorly optimized copy of US university program.

I would recommend that we partition our current 4-year undergraduate program into two 2-year programs with a nationally  recognized degree at the end of each 2-year program.

A student gets admission (just like now) in a 4-year B.S program.  In the first two years we teach enough skills that the student can go to industry and be productive.  At the end of these two year students gets a diploma or a degree or what ever we call it that is recognized nationally.  Students who leave after two year can comeback within a reasonable time and continue with the 2nd 2-year program and get equivalent of current 4-year B.S.

Students who want to finish 4-year program in one go are welcome to do so.  Students who want to change university after first 2-year program should have the freedom to do so.

For example for computer science we need a few minor changes in our current 4 year program to design the program outlined above.

In 1st two years we should make sure that CS student knows programming, Intro to Object Oriented programming, Data Structures, Visual programming, Databases, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Probability and correct writing in English.  In two years we teach 20 semester courses.  I have listed 9 here.  Other 11 can be used to give knowledge about self, society, economics, literature etc.

In the second 2-year program we can fill rest of the courses that are part of the 4 year BS curriculum at present.

I am not sure if this partitioning is possible in Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemical Engineering etc.

Actually US program IS closer to the second program I have outlined.  I think community colleges in US give first two years and I think University of California system (which includes Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSF and others) is obligated to give admission to students who do reasonably well in a two year community colleges in California.  I do not know exact details.

While copying the US program, HEC management forgot this crucial component of the US system.  Of late HEC has tried half heartedly to introduce a two year program.  We need a very serious effort in this direction. 




--
Dr. Aftab Ahmad Maroof | Director | FAST-NU | Faisalabad Campus
L: +92 41 8815772 |M: +92 300 8542043 |F: +92 41 8815771 |e:  aftab.maroof@nu.edu.pk

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