NEW DELHI: In a significant move, DU’s Academic Council, in its meeting held on Saturday, approved guidelines for supervising students in the soon-to-be-introduced fourth year of the undergraduate programme.
The new guidelines will offer students a choice between pursuing a dissertation, academic project, or entrepreneurship. The draft supervision guidelines aim to streamline mentorship and academic oversight under the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) 2022, in alignment with UGC Regulations, 2018.
According to the approved framework, all faculty members—regardless of whether they hold a PhD—will be eligible to supervise students opting for any of the three tracks.
Allocation of students will be based on faculty expertise in the relevant area, with colleges given the autonomy to define objective parameters for assigning student-supervisor pairings. The university has also permitted the appointment of co-supervisors, including assistant professors and qualified industry experts.
Each student undertaking a dissertation or project will be assigned an Advisory Committee for Research (ACR), which will evaluate progress on a monthly basis. In addition, students will be required to submit regular updates to the Subject Research Committee (SRC) for continuous assessment and academic guidance. To ensure equitable distribution, a faculty member may supervise up to 10 students. However, this number can be increased by the College Research Committee (CRC) under special circumstances, provided a valid justification is submitted.
Importantly, the university has emphasized that dissertations must be individual efforts and not group submissions. In the event of disagreements or ambiguities during the implementation of these guidelines, the VC’s decision will be final.
This initiative is part of Delhi University’s broader efforts to transition toward a multidisciplinary, research-oriented undergraduate education system.