Bengaluru: Engineering students who fail to secure a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of five or more in their final exams will not receive degrees, stated a circular issued by Visvesvaray Technological University (VTU) on Thursday, September 19.

The new provisions will be applicable to VTU students pursuing BE, BTech, and BArch courses and who follow the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) introduced in 2015.

Before the CBCS system was introduced, engineering students had to simply pass the final exams to be eligible for a degree. However, under the new system, students will have to clear the final exams and secure a minimum 5-point CGPA.

The circular also states that students who fail to meet these requirements will be allowed to retake the end semester examination and improve their CGPA. However, scores obtained in projects, seminars, practical examinations, or internships cannot be changed.

Although there is no limit to how many times a student can retake the exam, the VTU has decided to include the month and year in which the student passed the examination in the marks sheet.

The circular further urges department heads to guide students and make sure that they get their degrees at the end of the course by satisfying the stated requirements.

The move was welcomed by college authorities and professors. Speaking to The Hindu, one faculty member said, “Students only study and learn from the perspective of examination. It is good to expect a minimum standard. In fact, it is fair because students get an opportunity to improve their scores by reappearing for their papers.”

Disappointed that the new rules are not applicable for practical exams, Rahul B (an engineering student) said, “If we are unable to get a CGPA of 5 by a small margin, it makes sense to improve our projects rather than prepare for the entire semester-end examination.”