FYUP Row: DU Aspirants, Students Anxious and Uncertain

With the University Grants Commission (UGC) ordering Delhi University (DU) to scrap the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), the fate of enrolled students as well as those applying for admission this year stands uncertain.

The first cut-off list is scheduled to be declared on June 24, 2014. However, the latest news has become a cause of worry for over two lakh DU aspirants and those who had already enrolled in the FYUP course.

The university may have stuck to its guns for now, but students are a worried lot.

“I am not sure if we would be admitted for the three-year course or the four-year course. There is no information on what would finally be the course structure. Boasting of their successful ‘open days’, the university has again left us with no clarity,” said Payal Dhawan, a DU aspirant.

“When the university had already gone ahead with the four-year programme despite red flags from the teachers, steps should have been taken to improve the existing course. An established university cannot play with the careers of thousands of students,” said Mala Aggarwal, mother of a 17-year-old DU applicant.

Not only have DU applicants and their parents been left confused by this sudden order from UGC, the students who have already studied a year under the new programme are now worried about whether the university will restructure their course to ensure its completion in three years or would they carry on with the four-year programme.

“What will happen to students who have already spent a year studying the four-year programme? I don’t think the university has any plans about fitting a four-year syllabus into three years and this worries me,” said Puneeta Vermani, a student of English (Hons) from DCAC.

According to the UGC order, the university will have to make arrangements for students to migrate to the three-year undergraduate programme structure so that they do not lose a year for obtaining an undergraduate degree. It has also said that the university has to make sure that the students acquire necessary academic and other competence during the remaining two years.

Students, however, are a nervous wreck, especially those who took admission in B.Tech courses.

“I do not know what will happen to us now. I took admission in DU since it offered a B.Tech degree in computer science. That effectively made it an engineering degree in nomenclature. If we are not given that degree, it will amount to fraud. I did not take admission in a private engineering college because I was getting admission in B.Tech here. What am I supposed to do now?” said a student at Hansraj College who did not want to be named.

Source: hindustantimes.com