The current situation demands imaginatively reorganising both the undergraduate and post graduate programmes, thinking critically about the nature of the disciplines and the intellectual and practical training they offer. There should be a paradigm shift of current learning practices where students are mere recipients of knowledge and teachers are mere providers to teachers and students as co – learners. It is essential to develop internationally competitive UG courses first to sustain Kerala’s brilliant minds who flock to other states for doing rigorous courses.

Even though new generation programmes have been introduced, these could not sustain due to lack of vertical movement or lack of placement opportunities. Being a topic which is highly debated in the current scenario, IQAC of Al – Ameen College found it highly relevant of hosting a webinar on New Academic Programmes In Affiliated Colleges – Concerns & Expectations to ensure an interactive session with the chairman of the expert committee – Prof . Dr. Sabu Thomas, VC, MG University, Kottayam on 7th July 2020 from 10.30 a.m to 11.30 a.m.

Various academicians and management representatives from several institutions participated in the webinar and had the opportunity to interact with the honourable VC with their concerns about the new policies. There were representations from different affiliated and autonomous institutions from various universities like Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala University and Calicut University.

The resource person of the session was able to convince the participants about the drawbacks of conventional three year degree programme which lack research component and rarely recognised by the foreign universities which in turn block the students in securing admission for higher degrees in foreign universities. Speaker also highlighted that a well-rounded education with a strong platform emphasising on soft skills including effective communication across all programmes and degrees is to be the prime concern of every institutions.

He concluded by stating that along with the introduction of new programmes, the current structure of examination should also be changed to creative learning expressed through the assignments, presentations and academic writings.