Making uninformed choices

Students may have to indicate their choice of minor subjects at the time of admission to Delhi University itself.

Students may have to indicate their choice of minor subjects at the time of admission to Delhi University itself.

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Colleges such as Ramjas and St Stephen’s have decided to ask students to indicate which Discipline II course they would like to take up in the second year in the first semester itself.

“We are asking students to indicate their preference during admission so that we can make calculations about staff and other requirements. The students will, however, be allowed to change their preference at the time of taking up the course finally,” said officials at Ramjas College.

Discipline II is a new feature that has been introduced in the new four-year undergraduate programme. While aspirants will take admission in the major subject they want a degree in, they will be given a chance to study six papers of a different discipline.

This subject will be taught only from the third semester onwards. A student can opt for any subject, provided she meets the eligibility criteria and her college offers it. A student who has not studied science, for example, cannot take up physics as Discipline II. However, a student who has taken up Physics can opt for Psychology as Discipline II.

And while some colleges will ask aspirants their intended Discipline II choices, others will give students a chance to choose later.

“I see no point in asking students to choose right at the beginning. Admission is only on the basis of Discipline I and there is no need to confuse applicants. They will make an informed decision at the end of the first year,” said Pradyumn Kumar, principal, Hindu College.

But an aspirant who wants to know about the choices on Discipline II subjects will have to wait some more time. A number of colleges are yet to put up information about the minor subjects on their websites. In some colleges, discussion about these courses is still on.

According to most colleges, they will allot the minor subjects on the basis of merit to avoid overcrowding in a particular course.