New Delhi, June 26 (IANS): Delhi University Thursday said it has sent a fresh proposal to the UGC to restore the three-year under-graduate course, and a few amendments in the controversial four-year under-graduate programme (FYUP).
The faceoff between the two institutions continued for the third day, as DU is now awaiting a communication on its fresh proposal from the University Grants Commission (UGC) before beginning the admission process. In the tussle, the students have been left in the lurch.
"Today, we have sent the blended proposal to the UGC and are waiting for their response. The proposal draws on some already approved courses with some supplementary courses," the university's media coordinator Malay Neerav told the media.
"We also want the admissions to start soon. If the proposal gets accepted, then with the approval from the statutory bodies (academic and executive council), admissions can begin soon," he said.
Neerav was referring to a six-point proposal by a 20-member group of academicians who Wednesday appealed to university Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh to resolve the ongoing impasse between the university and the UGC.
The proposal was given to the UGC Thursday.
The university said under the proposal it would be giving an honours degree to students under the three-year under-graduate programme.
It, however, added that the foundation courses (language, literature and creativity, history and culture, science and life, building mathematical ability) introduced under the FYUP would remain for the first year students.
Under the proposal, the B.A., B.Sc. and B.Com. pass courses, which were part of the three-year under-graduate programme, will not be brought back.
"Little changes in the first year courses will considerably reduce the time for reviewing and adopting them," added Neerav.
"Also, no new courses will be introduced. So, there is no need for new registration as well," he said.
He said the university, one of the oldest and the best in the country, was keen to resolve the row that has halted admissions to 64 of its 78 affiliated colleges, affecting tens of thousands of students.
All the colleges have agreed to start admissions, but are awaiting the directive from DU. Around 2.7 lakh applicants have applied for admissions to 54,000 seats this year.
Until the UGC accepts the proposal, a decision on starting the admissions cannot be reached.
Further, the Discipline II and the applied courses introduced under the FYUP will remain for now as there has been no information on this by the university.
Under the FYUP, Discipline I is the compulsory subject for which a student is studying to get an honours degree.
Also, a student has to study Discipline II, which are minor courses having six subsidiary papers. Under this, applied courses are to be studied with focus on practicals.
The admissions were to begin Tuesday but were suspended after the UGC, a statutory body of the government to coordinate and maintain the standards of university education in India, told the vice chancellor to scrap the FYUP.
The UGC sent a letter to DU late Wednesday, asking the university to begin admissions from Thursday.
But as the admission process gets delayed, student groups continue to protest and demanding the vice chancellor's resignation.