Delhi University colleges sent 2 fresh course plans

The reductions have been criticised by members of the executive council (EC) and AC, who said that the course credits outlined in the proposed were far lower than those in the structure passed by the two decision-making bodies

Colleges in Delhi University have been sent two proposed alternative course structures in line with the New Education Policy for feedback, principals said on Saturday.

Students at the Delhi University Campus. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

While the DU academic council (AC) in August approved 196 credits for a four-year honours degree and 148 credits for a three-year honours degree, the credits have been reduced to 184 and 140 respectively in the first alternative course structure and 164 and 124 in the second.

The reductions have been criticised by members of the executive council (EC) and AC, who said that the course credits outlined in the proposed were far lower than those in the structure passed by the two decision-making bodies.

AC members said the university communicated the new structure with principals without prior discussions with the AC.

In August, Delhi University (DU) approved the introduction of a four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), along with multiple entry-exit schemes (MEES) and an academic bank of credits (ABC) from the 2022 academic session.

Under FYUP, the structure of the current undergraduate course will be changed to allow students to opt for a three-year course, a four-year honours course, or a four-year honours course with research.

Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said two frameworks outlining the FYUP course structure were shared with colleges last week and feedback sought for them as part of ongoing consultations.

Appreciating the call for feedback, she said, “It’s a welcome step that discussions are taking place. Various committees are already working on it. With more recommendations coming from all quarters, we will be working towards the implementation in an informed manner,” said Nanda.

Poonam Verma, principal, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, said the proposals were being discussed and aspects such as the number of credits were being looked at in terms of the three and four-year programmes.

“Feedback has been sought from us as part of the ongoing deliberations on the various aspects,” said Verma.

Several teachers, however, once again raised concerns over the reduction of workload that would arise due to the implementation of the provisions outlined in the proposals.

Naveen Gaur, AC member, said that during the August meeting of the AC, everyone knew that the structure that had been passed was not in conformity with the UGC structure.

“Back then, we were told the university will strive to ensure that the structure passed by the AC will be adopted. The fact that these new proposals were not discussed with the AC and were in violation with the sanctity of the council,” said Gaur.

Both the Democratic Teacher’s Front and the National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF) wrote to the DU vice-chancellor on Saturday raising objections against the two proposals.

In its letter, DTF said that the two models of FYUP were at variance with the proposals that had been placed in the AC and EC earlier.

It said that if either of the two models were implemented, it will lead to massive workload deductions leading to large scale displacement of existing ad-hoc teachers.

While rejecting the two proposed course structures, NDTF said that the proposed alternative course structures had reduced the total number of credits in three years honours courses which will result in dilution of the course content as well as the teaching workload/teaching positions.