Sherubtse College in Kanglung, the country’s premier institute of learning, has launched its homegrown degree programme in Humanities to replace the courses offered by the University of Delhi, India.

The launch of the new academic programme is in keeping with the target of Royal University of Bhutan to phase out all courses offered by the Delhi University in Sherubtse by 2010.

A third of the 370 students who joined Sherubtse College in Kanglung this week will take up the new programme, which offers Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English and Dzongkha, English and Geography, English and Environmental Studies, English and Economics, Economics and Geography, and Dzongkha and Geography.

According to the director of the college, Dr. Jagar Dorji, the students taking the new “double subject degree” programme could either graduate with an undergraduate degree in two subjects, or continue with an Honours Degree in the fourth year by specialising in one of the subjects.

“For an Honours Degree students will have to score a minimum of 70 percent in all the three years,” he said. “They will also be given the flexibility to come back after a year or two to continue their Honours course.”

The “double subject degree” programme, expected to give students more options after they graduated, also focused on the skills and knowledge required for the Bhutanese job market said Dr. Jagar Dorji. “It is aimed at less lecturing and more participation of students through research, seminars, open discussions, and field work.”

He said that besides the students’ hard work, it demanded efficiency from staff and management, as every lesson was time bound. “We also have the advantage of providing immediate feed back as we conduct and evaluate examinations ourselves,” he said.

But the new programme required experienced teachers. “The existing lecturers are good and qualified but there is a need for experienced teachers,” he said.

Dr. Jagar Dorji said Sherubtse lecturers prepared the new programme through extensive research and with support from senior lecturers from Delhi University and professors from other countries.

The dean of Academic Affairs of the college, Dr. Shivaraj Bhattarai, said that the BSc degree in Life and Physical Sciences, BA in History and BA in Political Science would be validated in November 2007 and introduced next year. “Sociology has received the planning approval and will be launched in 2009,” he said.

Sherubtse also admitted this week 140 students to the Bachelors in Business Administration programme and 30 students to the Bachelors of Science in Computer Science introduced as a RUB programme last year.

The last batch of 70 students were also admitted to Bachelor of Science in Life Science and Physical Science under the Delhi University programme this March. Next year, Sherubtse will introduce the RUB’s science programme. Source: Kuenselonline