11 more courses at Sikkim varsity

Gangtok, May 10: Sikkim Central University will introduce 11 new post-graduate courses from the next academic session starting in August. “The final nod to start the courses was given at a meeting of the executive council held in March following a recommendation by the academic council of the University,” said varsity registrar K.M. Deb. The degrees that would be offered are anthropology (MA/Msc), education (MEd), English (MA), Hindi (MA), history (MA), political science (MA), commerce (MCom), management (MBA), tourism (MA), mathematics (BSc-MSc integrated courses and MSc) and zoology (MSc). “We got representations from different academic and social organisations requesting to start the courses. These courses are being launched to meet the demands of the people,” said Deb. The university, however, has not yet fixed any cut-off percentage to apply for the new courses. “Anyone who has passed the bachelors program can apply. After considering the number of applications, the university may conduct an interview in written or viva form. If the number of applicants is more than the prescribed seats, there would be selection on merit basis,” said a university official. The allotted seats for the each course are 20. “There would be 7.5 per cent reservation for STs, 12.5 per cent for SCs, 27 per cent for OBCs and 3 per cent for people with disability,” Deb said. The university that was set up in 2006 offers 19 PG courses and has 529 students. A new university campus is coming up at Yang Yang in South Sikkim on a 300 acre plot. Now, classes are held at rented buildings in Gangtok.