NEW DELHI: Several members of Delhi University’s (DU) statutory bodies are set to protest on Wednesday as the varsity’s academic council will hold a meeting to discuss syllabi of the first semester of the four-year undergraduate programmes (FYUP) based on the newly introduced Under Graduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF).
Terming the council’s decision to pass UG courses in FYUP mode as abrupt and un-academic, the teachers and students demand to reject the ‘hurried’ exercise which will lead to dilution of degrees, job-loss for teachers, among other issues.
The protestors would be using posters reading, ‘students’ are not guinea pigs, defer and review FYUP’.
For the FYUP, resolutions in this regard have been put forward by the university’s standing committee and will now come up for approval during the meeting.
The new curriculum will be implemented from the academic year 2022-23. The Executive Council (EC), DU’s top decision-making body, in February approved an Undergraduate Curriculum Framework-2022 (UGCF-2022), as formulated by a National Education Policy Cell.
The syllabi of 100 undergraduate courses will come up for discussion during the meeting. Some of the courses include — BA (Hons) Business Economics, BA (Hons) Multi-Media and Mass Communication, B.Sc Electronic Science and B.Sc (H) Microbiology.
The syllabi have been prepared by the course committees and passed by a standing committee. A course committee comprises five professors two from the department concerned and three college professors.
The syllabi will now be presented to the academic council. Following the AC’s approval, the syllabi will be taken up by the EC.
The university had earlier implemented the FYUP in 2013 but the programme was scrapped by the Centre. This time, however, the FYUP will be different from the previous one, officials said. The council will also consider the recommendations of an inspection committee constituted by the VC for starting an MS (Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics) course with an intake of two seats per year at the University
College of Medical Sciences from this academic year, subject to approval from the funding agency.