DU increases 1-year PG seats; faculty flags infra crunch

DU teachers flagged lack of university infrastructure for the additional seats, stating that an increase in student numbers could lead to multiple complications

New Delhi: The University of Delhi (DU) on Friday announced an increase in seats for its recently launched one-year postgraduate (PG) programmes, a demand that students and faculty have been raising for a while.

Seats in M.A. English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, M.Sc in Mathematics, and Master of Commerce have been increased from 45 to 126, an increase of 81 seats. (Hindustan Times)

Seats in M.A. English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, M.Sc in Mathematics, and Master of Commerce have been increased from 45 to 126, an increase of 81 seats.

The number of seats in the psychology programme has been increased from 34 to 63, while those in the chemistry programme have increased from 45 to 63. The M.A. in Economics will now have 126 seats instead of its earlier 40 seats, while the seats in the M.Sc Statistics have been increased from 29 to 54.

HT had earlier reported that, on July 17, DU constituted a committee to examine increasing the number of seats in the one-year PG programmes, stating that it had received requests from various departments. Several students in the Four Year Undergraduate Programme welcomed the announcement. “I have applied to the M.A. History one-year programme, and today when I got to know that they have increased the number of seats from 45 to 126, I did feel relieved. However, I believe that as there are many colleges under DU, maybe the new number of seats for a course should have been around 200,” said a student, requesting anonymity.

However, DU teachers flagged a lack of infrastructure at the university for the additional seats, stating that an increase in student numbers could lead to multiple complications.

“This is a knee-jerk reaction. The infrastructure required to manage the increased number of students is lacking at the university. A sudden increase will result in a very skewed student-teacher ratio. A lot of infrastructure and human resources are required; without them, this decision will be a burden for the department,” said Miranda House professor Abha Dev Habib.

“The administration has taken this decision because they were under pressure, but it is not currently academically viable to have such large numbers. There will be a shortage of labs in the science courses and a shortage of classroom space in the arts faculty, resulting in the dilution of the postgraduate experience for all students. If the administration wanted to increase the number of seats, they could have estimated it better, according to the number of students who are opting for the one-year PG programmes, as it is not as if every FYUP student will opt for it,” said another DU professor, requesting anonymity.

Until the 2025-26 academic session, the university offered only two-year postgraduate programmes. The one-year PG programme will be introduced from the 2026-27 academic session.

The university commenced the admission process for the first batch of the PG earlier this month.