FYUP row: B-Tech, BMS students continue to fight

The UGC had verbally assured BTech students that their future would not be harmed in a FYUP rollback but students want a concrete assurance.

Refusing to back down and wait till the University Grants Commission (UGC) or Delhi University came out with concrete guidelines for the future of their degrees, BTech and Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) students protested outside the office of the vice-chancellor and the UGC on Saturday.

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“How can we sit back till a clear way is shown to us? We don’t know if our degree will be converted to a BSc degree or remain a B Tech degree. There are many applicants who left courses in IIT to pursue a BTech in Computer Science in Delhi University. Unless we know what will happen, we will not sit still,” said Ankit Jain, a B-Tech student.

The UGC had verbally assured BTech students that their future would not be harmed in a FYUP rollback but students want a concrete assurance.

“We are very anxious. Our life depends on it,” said Mahika Verma, another BTech student who had been standing in the heat outside the vice-chancellor Lodge since morning.

“We can’t go back to those courses. BMS is a much better course and we want to continue with it. We are worried that our market value would decrease if we are forced to go back to other courses,” said Anand, a BMS student.

The agitating students were goaded further by a few teachers who were sitting in front of the lodge to protest against the UGC and MHRD for encroaching on the university’s autonomy.

Asking students to sit on the road and stop traffic, a teacher told them that they wouldn’t get a BTech degree and that those students who are studying honours courses would be forced to do programme courses in the second and third year.

There are no such guidelines currently and the solutions being worked out are not on these lines either.