This is good news for the students trying to secure admission in undergraduate science programmes as Manonmaniam Sundaranar University has decided to offer five-year integrated courses in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Environmental Sciences from this academic year.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Vice-Chancellor K. Baskar said that students who had passed Plus Two with 60 per cent marks in science subjects (55 per cent for SC/ST students) could apply for joining these programmes which would lead to awarding of M.Sc. degree at the end of the course.

If a student wanted to leave the programme at the end of the third year, B.Sc. degree would be awarded. However, this would not apply to those who joined the integrated programme in Environmental Sciences.

“Since the students having M.Sc. degree in Environmental Sciences are getting attractive employment opportunities, especially in research and development areas, we don’t extend the privilege of leaving the course at the end of the third year,” Dr. Baskar said.

Based on Plus Two marks and the objective-type entrance examination, 28 students would be selected for each programme. Merit scholarship of Rs. 2,000 per month would be given to top 10 students in each course for five years.

Tie-ups

The monthly fellowship would be given based on the marks obtained by the students in every semester. Outstanding students would be sent to foreign universities to do one or two semesters under ‘semester exchange’ programmes.

“We’ve fixed a nominal fee of Rs. 4,700 per semester,” Dr. Baskar noted.

Elective subjects in the fourth and fifth years had been designed to suit competitive examinations such as NET, SET and GATE.

Spot registration for applying for these courses would be held at St. Xavier’s Higher Secondary School, Palayamkottai, St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Millerpuram and The Pioneer School, Vettoornimadam, Nagercoil, on Saturday and Sunday.

Narayanaswamy Kannan, Director, Directorate of Distance and Continuing Education, Paulraj Joseph, Head, Department of Mathematics, P. Govindaraju, Head, Department of Mass Communication, and A.G. Murugesan, Head, Department of Environmental Sciences, were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Tirunelveli – May 21st, 2016