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2013-14: The four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP)

Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh's attempt to synchronise DU's undergraduate course with international norms met with fierce resistance and the FYUP was scuttled in June 2014 after a year-long conflict between its supporters and opponents.

Here is the background and sequence of events:

10 things you must know about Delhi University’s four-year undergraduate programme

The Times of India TNN | Jun 25, 2014

Since 2013, Delhi University's four-year undergraduate programme has been in the news for various reasons. City-wide protests by students and teacher organizations, the fact that DU in fact admitted students into the programme in 2013 despite the uproar, and finally the stepping in of University Grants Commission (UGC) to scrap FYUP are the key highpoints underlining this controversial programme.

In June 2014, Delhi University colleges, slowly but surely started switching back from the controversial four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) to the three-year course. 57 of the university's 64 colleges quietly communicated to UGC that they were moving back to the three-year course.

Here are 10 facts about the controversy surrounding DU's FYUP programme:

1) The Delhi high court in June 2014 fixed the petition on the FYUP-UGC issue for hearing on July 1.

2) 57 of the university's 64 colleges have 'quietly' communicated to UGC that they were moving back to the three-year course. These colleges include Hindu College, Lady Shri Ram, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Miranda House, Venkateswara and Kirori Mal. UGC followed up by asking DU authorities to immediately write to these colleges to begin admission under the three-year programme.

3) Meanwhile, UGC's missive to DU to ask colleges to begin admission under the three-year course could result in another war of nerves. Late in the evening, VC Dinesh Singh, pro-VC Sudesh Pachauri, registrar Alka Sharma and other officials reportedly met to plan their next move. University authorities, sources said, refused to take UGC's latest letter.

4) Responding to the anxiety of BTech students, whose course will be scrapped under the three-year graduation system, UGC said, "Students who feel they will be denied a BTech degree if the three-year course is introduced should not worry. Their interest will be fully safeguarded. They are being egged on by the DU authorities to agitate."

5) Delhi University administration's refusal to officially clarify anything relating to the current admission mess is leaving many DU hopefuls — especially those from other cities-in the lurch. DU admissions were to begin on June 24.

6) The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a petition challenging the University Grants Commission's direction to Delhi University to scrap the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP). Instead, a bench comprising Justices Vikramjit Sen and S K Singh suggested to the petitioner, Aditya Narayan Mishra, who is an assistant professor at Aurobindo College, to approach Delhi high court first.

7) Delhi University VC Dinesh Singh's fate hangs in the balance as it is not clear whether he has resigned or not. DU spokesman Malay Neerav texted a one-line message which said, "VC has resigned". This was followed by 'news' of the resignations of DU proVC Sudesh Pachauri and dean Umesh Rai. Since the VC's resignation had to come to the HRD ministry, officials there got into a huddle to finalize their next move. But as minutes and hours went by, Singh's resignation did not reach the ministry. "DU VC is playing a mind-game and successfully managed to spend another day without bothering about the fate of students," said a ministry official.

8) Protests continue to take place in DU. Those in favour of FYUP want to keep the pressure on; so they — mainly teachers' group like Academics for Action and Development (Aditya Mishra) — sat on a hunger strike. As news of the VC's resignation — which later turned out to be dubious — spread, there were celebrations and exchange of congratulatory messages.

9) Many are shocked at UGC's U-turn on FYUP that came into force in the last academic session. UGC along with a set of HRD officials, led by present education secretary Ashok Thakur, was at the forefront of celebrating FYUP last year. Not long ago, UGC chairperson Ved Prakash at a function in DU campus showered praise on VC Dinesh Singh and FYUP.

10) There seems to be no agreement between the central and state leaderships of Congres on the issue of rollback of FYUP. Senior Congres leader Ghulam Nabi Azad described UGC's directive as a decision taken in "haste" while another Congres leader, Manish Tewari, accused the NDA-led Central government of "trampling (on) and trifling (with)" the autonomy of a premium academic institution like Delhi University.

How the FYUP was scuttled: June 2014

Old letter won UGC FYUP war

Akshaya Mukul New Delhi

The Times of India Jun 28 2014

In the war of nerves that played out for a week, a single letter of July 30, 2013 written by a junior HRD ministry official to the registrar of Delhi University helped the University Grants Commission win the battle over the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). In the letter, the junior woman official raised questions that seniors in the minis try had overlooked or willfully ignored. Reminding the registrar that ordinances of university are submitted to university court and the visitor after the approval of the executive council, she told the university that it was not clear if approval of the EC in May and June, 2013 was placed before the university court.

She also told DU registrar that Baccalaureate degree under FYUP exists in booklet of ordinances despite the fact that the university had informed the ministry that such a degree is being dropped. DU was asked to clarify on these matters and also send resolution of the academic council/executive council and university court on the amendments to the ordinanc es. On its part, the DU administration chose to completely disregard the ministry’s letter. Visitor’s approval would not have happened without these documents.

It also made FYUP illegal.

In the current imbroglio, every time UGC asked DU to furnish proof of Visitor’s approval or reply to HRD’s communication of July 30, 2013, university obfuscated it by stating that it is a Left conspiracy. “We were on facts, DU alleged conspiracy. We knew it will be a tough battle. DU ignored our repeated directives and tried to expand the scope of the subject by bringing in issues extraneous to FYUP. For commission it was an illegal course and had to be scrapped,” one UGC official said.

However, on Thursday, UGC nearly succumbed to the proposal of some academicians considered close to vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh. The proposal was for blending three-year undergraduate courses with FYUP. After intense discussion, the commission felt that in the larger interest of students it should accept the proposal for three-years honours/pass course and keep some courses, especially in science and technology, under FYUP.

After being finalized, UGC’s reply was shown to a lawyer who asked how can the commission declare FYUP to be illegal on one hand and accept parts of it on the other. More discussions followed and it was decided that DU proposal should be rejected completely. UGC took few more hours to firm up its directive to DU. With students and teachers agitating on the streets and more than a lakh admission-seekers facing Delhi heat and uncertainty in DU, the university administration finally succumbed on the morning of June 27.

Teachers

2017, appointment

Manash Pratim Gohain, A first in 7 years: Delhi University will hire 378 teachers, Jan 30, 2017: The Times of India

As vacancies mount to around 4,500, Delhi University has finally started recruiting teachers. For the first time in more than seven years, the university has announced it would be filling up 378 posts of permanent teachers across departments.

Sources said the HRD ministry had asked DU to fill up most vacancies by the end of this year, following which the varsity has sought rosters from its colleges. While the current hirings were restricted to the departments, recruitments in colleges will follow soon, the sources added.

On Friday , the university invited online applications for 378 posts of assistant profes sors across 41departments and centres, which includes 187 general category posts, 100 OBC, 55 SC, 29 ST and seven posts for persons with disabilities.

This is the first major recruitment in DU since 2009. In April last year, the DU ad ministration formed a committee to facilitate the hiring process. The Academic and Executive councils passed the University Grants Commission's amendment on teachers' recruitment in December 2016, paving the way for the university to start hiring in a big way . In December 2016, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had said that his ministry would push for a recruitment drive in all major institutions and that all vacant positions should be filled by 2018. DU teachers have been protesting against the hiring freeze for a long time. On its part, the ministry has stated that ad hoc appointments should not exceed 5% of faculty strength.

"There has been pressure on the university from the ministry to fill up the positions. However, even before that the university administration has started working towards that. But the university is yet to get the complete roster of all the colleges with the vacant positions. Therefore, it is starting with recruitments at the department level. Appointments in colleges will follow," said a DU official. According to MHRD sources, the university has been asked to fill most vacant positions by year-end. "If it gets difficult to fill up such a large number of positions in a year's time, the ministry has asked the university to fill at least 75% of the vacancies," said a senior HRD official.

On the recruitment of 378 assistant professors, DU said the last date for receipt of the online applications was February 16, 2017, or within two weeks of publication of the advertisement.

DU is also expecting aspirants from abroad to apply ."We would like to make as many recruitments as possible this year itself so that the ad hocism does not continue. I hope all ad hoc teachers, along with aspirants from other regions of the country , will apply in big numbers. DU would also like to see bring Indian scholars studying or working abroad to come and join us," said DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi. Top Comment

Great. Under the HRD minister Javadekar, things are trying to improve, starting from recruitment of Teachers. Padmanaban Narasiman

Students

Documents aspiring students must submit

The Times of India, May 30 2016

Manash Gohain

13 documents you need to upload for DU registration

The registration process for undergraduate courses in Delhi University will be different this time as aspirants will have to upload their academic certificates and other documents. Earlier, they were only required to fill the form. The university has issued a list of 13 documents that will be required during registration, though all of them will not be mandatory for every aspirant. There will be one centralised registration form, expected to be an exhaustive one, for all categories of aspirants. Some documents that are mandatory for all candidates are Class X and XII certificates and marksheets; a scanned copy of signature; recent photograph; character certificate; transfer and migration certificates (for aspirants who completed their schooling outside Delhi).

According to officials, the university has made the complete process online and there will be no option of physical submission of documents. All the documents need to be self-attested. The officials added that the candidates should be careful in filling the form as incomplete forms will be rejected The online registration forms will be available from June 1 and the university is likely to notify the details on May 31.

On the online application forms, aspirants will get the details of colleges and the courses they offer. They will also get to know which colleges offer which sport under the ECA category . Those registering will also get to know the eligibility criteria through the form. Around 22 colleges will offer concession on cutoff for female candidates.

Mathematics will be compulsory for economics honours aspirants. Also, a candidate will be allowed to take economics even if she has not studied the subject at the Class XII level. the form.