M A I N   N E W S

DU finally gives in, scraps FYUP
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Admissions may start by Monday VC says students’ interest paramount; Admissions may start by Monday FYUP allowed students three exit options – diploma after two years of study; Bachelors after three and Hons after four. They could return to complete their courses in 10 years. FYUP enhanced students' skills by way of 11 Foundation Courses which were mandatory.

New Delhi, June 27
Week-long impasse over admissions to 64 Delhi University colleges ended today with the varsity giving in to academic regulator UGC’s directives on rolling back the controversial Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) and reverting to the old 10+2+3 format.

The standoff between DU and UGC ended after DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh agreed to withdraw the FYUP he introduced last year. Singh, who had been defying the UGC since June 20, said he was rolling back FYUP in students’ interest. Around 2.70 lakh students are awaiting admissions to DU colleges.

Singh said in a statement today that the DU recognized the need of the hour. “It is of paramount importance to protect the interests of the students by ensuring the start of the admission process. In line with the UGC’s directive, DU has decided to roll back the FYUP,” he said setting the stage for admissions to start.

Singh is also learnt to have constituted a 10 member committee of college principals to devise the future course of action. First cut offs lists could come tomorrow and admissions could start by Monday.

Importantly, admissions to DU will be now conducted under the scheme in force in 2012-13. This spells end of the road for FYUP, a reform DU initiated last year to bring the UG degree programme on par with global standards (primarily US) and offer students better opportunities by enhancing skills by way of 11 Foundation Courses which were mandatory under FYUP.

FYUP allowed students three exit options – diploma after two years of study; Bachelors after three and Hons after four. They could return to complete their courses in 10 years. The idea, VC, said, was to acknowledge the time students spent in the university as 30 per cent of two lakh DU students annually dropped out.

Resistance from FYUP came from students and teachers who respectively felt that foundation courses were a waste of time being too basic and colleges lacked the wherewithal needed to handle additional course rush.

DU faces faculty shortage of 4,700 teachers and FYUP entailed increased teachers’ burden and teaching hours.

With DU agreeing to withdraw FYUP after the UGC said it was illegal as it lacked the approval of DU’s Visitor (the President), HRD Minister Smriti Irani scored a point by keeping her party’s poll promise. The BJP’s student wing ABVP celebrated the move as their victory even though former HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, who approved the FYUP launch last year, told The Tribune, “The HRD Ministry should never have interfered with the university functioning. Institutional autonomy ought to have been respected. All formalities were followed.” Academicians said the development did not augur well for institutional autonomy. “The UGC can now dictate terms to central universities established by Acts of Parliament,” said Sanjay Verma, former member, DU’s Academic Council.