The design of the traditional B. Com program in India is age-old. The design stems from the definition of commerce, namely: "the conduct of trade amongst economic agents”. Commerce generally is understood to mean the exchange of goods, services or something of value, between businesses or entities on a large scale. Being confined to this definition has curbed the all -round growth of the program. As a result, most Chartered Accountants (CAs) who have evolved from being a Commerce graduate have a blinkered perspective. They view Accounting as the be all and end all of business, forgetting that it is only an instrument. Eminent experts and academicians feel that B. Com students should get a much broader perspective and the education should be humanised. They should also be inculcated appropriate value systems. Commerce education should prepare students to imbibe ‘conscientious capitalism’ practiced by role models such as Ratan Tata, Narayanmurthy, Azim Premji, Nanadan Nilekeni, Devi Shetty, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
The program comprises 143 credits spread over six semesters with each semester having 15 weeks duration.Semester I & II are composed of the basic building blocks for understanding Commerce and its relationships with Economics and Management. Semester III, IV and V are comprisedof subjects that are essential to comprehend the execution of commercial activities in the domestic and international arena. The values that are essential to be imbibed to become a sound professional are included in these semesters. In semester VI the students choose courses from the three electives streams and also do an entrepreneurship oriented project. Apart from accounting courses the program would have sufficient content in Mathematics, Humanities, Psychology, Value systems etc. Courses in Psychology, Cognitive sciences and Neuro-sciences would also form part of the program.
The program has three elective streams in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance; Taxation and Laws and Digital Business keeping in view the contemporary developments and job opportunities
Pedagogy
The pedagogy would include interactive classroom sessions, group work, role plays, case studies and live internships.A learner centric environment would be created wherein the student is the fulcrum around whom the teaching-learning process is organised. Every faculty would articulate learning outcomes for each course and assess the achievement of the outcomes in the process of evaluating students. Value added courses (VAC) have been included in 4 out of 6 semesters, while VAC do not carry credits they are as important as the credit courses and a student would have to successfully pass these courses. Overall the emphasis is on providing the learning ambience that challenges the students’ mind and enables him/her to enjoy learning.
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