FYUP may return to DU colleges this year

The university had once before in 2014 introduced the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). It, however, was scrapped by the government after protests by students and teachers the same year.

The Delhi University (DU) may reintroduce its four-year undergraduate (UG) programmes from the upcoming academic session of 2021-22, officials said on Sunday.

DU Vice-Chancellor (acting) PC Joshi said that the recommendations will now be sent to the university’s statutory bodies — academic council (AC) and executive council (EC) — for their approval. (HT file)

The programme will return as a part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. A committee that was constituted last year to formulate the guidelines for the implementation of the policy in DU has already submitted its recommendations on the structure of bachelors courses under the four-year model.

The university had once before in 2014 introduced the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). It, however, was scrapped by the government after protests by students and teachers the same year.

According to the proposed structure of UG programmes submitted by the committee — that is known as the National Education Policy 2020 Implementation Committee (NIC) — students in DU will now get the option of pursuing three-year honours or four-year honours in a discipline or a four-year honours in a discipline with research.

DU Vice-Chancellor (acting) PC Joshi said that the recommendations will now be sent to the university’s statutory bodies — academic council (AC) and executive council (EC) — for their approval.

“The university has extensively worked on it in the last 6-7 months and we are ready to implement it now. We are only waiting to get nods from the statutory bodies. I don’t think there will be an issue in the implementation, since we are not replacing anything. We are only adding on to the existing. It’s in fact in sync with what we are already running,” he said.

When asked about the necessity of introduction of fourr-year programme, Joshi said, “The University will introduce four year courses following the NEP recommendations. It’s going to be good for students since it’s giving more opportunities to them. Besides, the exit options are good for students from marginalised background who would want to discontinue studies temporarily due to their circumstances.”

Under the new programme, students will get multiple exit options. For instance, they can exit after one year and get a certificate, after two years they will get a diploma and after three years they will be awarded an honours degree. These exit options have also been advocated by the NEP, 2020.

In the fourth year of the program, the students can choose between pursuing the Bachelors of Arts / Science / Commerce (Honours) in Discipline or the Bachelors of Arts / Science / Commerce (Honours) in Discipline with Research. “In case a student chooses the first option, she would be required to study four generic elective (minors) papers in the fourth year. The student shall also study two discipline specific elective papers. He/ she would be required to complete a research dissertation on her major discipline of study, and an inter-disciplinary research dissertation on her major and minor disciplines of study,” the recommendations stated.

“In case a student chooses the second option, she would study two generic elective (minors) papers in the fourth year. The student shall also study two discipline specific elective papers. He/ she would need to complete a thesis/internship in the last two semesters,” it added.

Under the DU’s existing choice-based credit system, the major disciplines are the subjects in which students are aiming to get degrees, generic elective or minor courses are interdisciplinary subjects they chose along with the majors, and discipline-specific elective papers are extensions of the major subjects.

The committee has also recommended changing the names of the existing programme courses such as BA/BCom/ BSc programmes to Honours courses. If implemented, these programmes will be known as the Bachelors of Science (Honours), Bachelors of Arts (Honours) in Humanities and Social Sciences, and Bachelors of Commerce Studies (Honours).

It has also proposed the introduction of new subjects in the first three years in addition to the already existing ones. It includes language and literature, social and emotional learning, innovation and entrepreneurship, co-curricular, and ethics and culture, among others.

Several EC and AC members said that proper discussion on the recommendations is required before implementation. EC member Seema Das, who was also a member of the NEP Committee, said, “Initially, the NEP committee had proposed to do away with honours courses. They decided to accommodated this after my strong objections and retained all honours degree courses and also upgraded existing programme courses into honours courses. As per the assurance, these recommendations shall only be implemented after proper discussion in the statutory bodies.”

Principals of several DU colleges said that they will have to upgrade their infrastructure in order to accommodate students for four-years. “The colleges still have another three years to plan and make whatever changes we will require once students enter their fourth-year,” said Manoj Sinha, secretary of Delhi University Principal Association (DUPA) and principal of Aryabhatta College.