Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

The students should have completed a higher secondary level degree (+2, PCL, or any) in any of the subjects recognized by Tribhuvan University.

This course aims to impart the students with up-to-date knowledge in Sociology. Specifically, this course aims to begin students’ exposure to theoretical, methodological and empirical debates in the discipline and about different facets of Nepali society. While the students will engage primarily with prescribed reading, comprehending, synthesizing and analysing the texts, attention has also been given to encourage them in applying the insights they learn from these texts in understanding contemporary Nepali society (particularly the community) in which they are a member.

Reading the texts, being active in classroom discussions, and making efforts while thinking and writing to link it with key facets of one’s society are the three activities the students are expected to engage in as the course progresses.

The course has a relatively heavy emphasis on the practicum (worth 30 full marks out of total 100 in each module and that demands 50 hours equivalent of academic engagement on each paper). In each module, students are required to link the texts they read and discuss in the class with (any part of) society they come from or they are living in. Hence, whereas understanding Sociology is important, their ability to apply such understanding to their own community and society is also important.

Finally, to enhance their ability to organize ideas systematically and enable them in writing, and communicate such ideas in effective ways, skills in research and writing have also been emphasized.

Assessment and Evaluation

The syllabus has a considerable emphasis on practicum (say, application). To earn 30 marks as part of the internal evaluation, the students have to engage in practical activities (like conducting mini-research, doing field visits, studying markets, review of a book/article, writing an essay and the like) which if worth (or equivalent of) 50 hours of academic engagement.

It implies that students have to constantly engage in applying what they have learned in the classroom by doing some project work. This may comprise activities such as mini field visits and report write-up, synthesizing a text, writing a seminar paper, and debating and making the presentation. For the practicum, 50 teaching hours have been allocated for each module and it carries 30 full marks (out of 100 in each module). The practicum part will be accomplished along the way the students are engaged in the classroom teaching and it is the responsibility of the Subject Teacher to accomplish this on time.

Since the syllabus has assigned one-third weightage (50 of a total of 150 teaching hours) on practicum, Colleges and Departments who choose to introduce this (Bachelor of Arts in Sociology) course are encouraged to pay attention to this fact. They are encouraged to put in place required resources and institutional support and monitoring systems to implement it. In any circumstance, no sit-in examination can be conducted as part of internal evaluation, and students should be given opportunities to go outside the class, and learn from everyday real-life situations.

Regular attendance in the class, active participation in the classroom discussions, classroom presentations, and timely submission of assignments can also be considered as part of the internal evaluation. At the end of each academic year, there will be a university-wide final examination for 70 full marks in each module.

Overall Structure of Students’ Performance Evaluation