PUNE: For the first time, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) will be hosting bachelors course on campus. The varsity will be introducing BSc blended courses under School of Interdisciplinary Sciences from the academic year 2019-2020, announced Vice-Chancellor Nitin Karmalkar at a press interaction on Friday.

BSc courses will consist of subjects in four areas including environmental science, chemistry, physics and earth and atmospheric sciences. A dedicated faculty will be working in this school, stated Karmalkar.

There would be around 80 seats for students. In the final year of the bachelors course, 20 students in each group will be able to choose a specialisation area in the aforementioned subjects, informed Karmalkar.

Besides this, the VC also spoke about revamping of the ongoing PhD fellowship in university. “We have planned to revise the fellowship scheme offered to students on campus. Until sometime before, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had provided us funds to run a few fellowships schemes, however, the fund flow for this purpose has been stopped now. Therefore, instead of scrapping the fellowship, the university has decided to continue it with few changes and revised guidelines,” said Karmalkar.

“SPPU will provide fellowship to PhD students after the name of Bharat Ratna JRD Tata. The university will strictly scrutinise each fellowship application and based on the quality of applications received, it will select a few students who will get the fellowship offer. Our purpose is to identify passionate students who are interested in quality research,” said Karmalkar.