C5. ACADEMIC CONTACT HOURS (CREDITS/UNITS) The teaching is reckoned in terms of credits based on contact hours. The contact hours are sum of lecture, tutorial & practical hours. One lecture hour per week is rated as one credit and two tutorials or two practical hours per week are rated as one credit. Depending upon the structure of the courses its credit will be rated as for example a course of 3-0-0 will carry three credits, 3-2-0 will carry four credits 3-2-2 will carry five credits, 0-0-6 will carry three credits. Under exceptional circumstance weightages for lecture hour, tutorial, practical hour may vary slightly. Unit system currently followed in some of the institutions may be suitably related to the credit system in order to facilitate their interpretation by institutions within the country or abroad.
A course with LTP (Lecture, Tutorial, Practical) loading of 3-1-2 or 3-2-2 or 0-0-6 may be considered as one unit to be taught in a year. This definition of unit however should not be considered as rigid. It is only a guideline and variations may occur depending upon the nature of the subject, the homework required and the intensity of the courses.
The training program like semester should be so arranged that each training period cover 25 to 30 credit. In addition, a provision of some contact hours per week should be made for informal discussions / consultation and counseling with the students. For this purpose 5 contact hours per week are considered as adequate for a class. Accordingly, this additional teaching load has to be provided for the teachers and be reflected in the timetable.
