4 year UG programme will jeopardise academic career of lakhs of students: DUTA Member

Delhi University was one of the first universities in the country to start four year UG course around eight years back, with multiple exit options, however, the programme was rolled back later due to various reasons

The UGC has notified a new curriculum framework for undergraduate courses like BA, BSc., and B.Com. also known as the Credit and Curriculum Framework on Undergraduate Programme' (CCFUGP). The new framework also paves way for the reintroduction of FYUP (Four Year Undergraduate Programme) in universities.
Delhi University was one of the first universities in the country to start four year UG course around eight year back, however, the programme was rolled back later due to various reasons including a shortage of faculty, infrastructure issue and protest from students.

Interestingly, the FYUP introduced at DU in 2013-14 was also inter-disciplinary, with multiple exit points, allowing students to withdraw from the programme mid-way with a diploma or certificate, after the first or second or third year of the course, something similar to what NEP has suggested.

Once again UGC has planned to bring back this course curriculum from the next academic session, beginning with central universities, in line with the various recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The UGC has requested all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to take necessary measures to adopt the Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate programmes.

As per the new framework, the undergraduate degree will be of either a 3 or 4-year duration, with multiple exit options within this period, with appropriate certifications, e.g., a UG certificate after completing 1 year in a discipline or field including vocational and professional areas, or a UG diploma after 2 years of study, or a Bachelor’s degree after a 3-year programme.
For four year UG programme it states that the 4-year multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme, however, shall be the preferred option since it allows the opportunity to experience the full range of holistic and multidisciplinary education in addition to a focus on the chosen major and minors as per the choices of the student.

The new framework has not gone down well with some sections of the academic community as according to them the revised structure of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme under NEP and the categorical instruction to the Universities across the country to take action accordingly is an unmitigated disaster. This document puts the entire Higher Education sector in India in serious jeopardy. 

Rudrashish Chakraborty, Associate Professor at the Department of English, Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi, who is also a member of the Delhi University Teachers Association highlights 10 shortcomings of the frameworks and how it is anti-student and anti-teacher owing to the following reasons:

1. Dilution of Quality Education: The CFFUGP document is a serious dilution of quality education as it aims to waste 3 semesters of students by insisting on 'common courses', whereas students already come from specialised disciplines of Humanities, Science and Commerce in their Senior Schools.

2. Dilution of Flagship Honours Courses: The flagship Honours courses in the reputed Universities of the country, especially the University of Delhi, have been the vanguard of the Undergraduate programmes. The students take admission to different Honours courses and are exposed to the rigours of the discipline along with pursuing different interdisciplinary subjects to supplement the main discipline. This has been a time-tested programme and has produced the finest minds for decades. Any dilution of the Honours courses amounts to a compromise in the course content and denies students the opportunity to access quality and affordable public-funded higher education.

3. Reduction in Credit Hours: The proposed structure talks of 160 credit hours in 8 semesters which is in fact lower than the 176 hours approved by the University of Delhi: a fact opposed by the teachers and students of the University on the grounds of dilution of quality.

4. Redundance of PG/ Masters Courses: The most rampant assault of the proposed FYUP is the absolute redundancy/irrelevance of the Postgraduate or the Master's Courses. The document proposes that the PG/Masters Courses are now reduced to only 1 year from the existing 2 years. Moreover, PG has been made redundant since a student can directly apply for a PhD after completing the 4 year UG programme. This is academically unviable as it does away with the pedagogical consolidation required at the PG level for any student who wishes to pursue a PhD.

5. Added Costs to Students with Less Value: The structure of FYUP proposed in CCFUGP increases the duration of a UG course from the existing 3 years to 4 years with no value addition. Rather the same degree with an inferior quality of courses will be imposed on students with an extra added cost of one year. So the students will spend one-third more money and time to get a diluted degree as compared to the present UG structure of 3 years which is rigorous and value for money.

6. Loss of Workload for Teachers: The proposed structure of FYUP leads to a massive reduction of workload for teachers owing to fewer credit hours and a reduction of Core papers for the first 3 semesters. This is a dangerous portent for the 5000+ Adhoc teachers in the University of Delhi who have been languishing for years waiting for a permanent job.

7. Farce in the Name of Interdisciplinarity: The proposed FYUP structure, while claiming to introduce Interdisciplinarity in the UG curriculum, actually ends up creating a farce in its name. The erstwhile CBCS had a robust UG structure with a proper balance of disciplinary and interdisciplinary strengths embedded within the structure. Instead of augmenting the strengths of the system, the proposed FYUP tries to undermine the rigours of the disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies by making it mechanical and sporadic, thus leading to a serious dilution of the quality and rigour of the existing courses. It's ironic that FYUP was withdrawn in 2014 by this very Govt after a long, protracted struggle of the teachers and students of the University of Delhi on similar grounds of poor quality of courses and wastage of time and money.

8. Exclusion of the Socially Marginalised Segments from Higher Education: The most devastating impact of the proposed FYUP is the exclusion of the social and the economic segments of the society from higher education: especially the Dalits, tribals, women, minorities and other marginalised sections whose access to higher education is very limited. Increasing the duration and the cost of the same UG degree by 1 year, is an attempt to push students out of higher education. This fact is further borne out by the decision of the UGC to dilute PG and scrap M.Phil: the degrees meant to equip students to learn more in the higher education sector.

9. Jeopardy for DU students: The tone and tenor of the UGC notice directing the Universities to implement the proposed 4 year UG programme amount to jeopardising the academic career of lakhs of students who have taken admission in 2022-23 in a different academic programme. The statements of bravado issued by the DU officials including the VC -- suggesting that DU will continue with UGCF for its own students -- are meaningless as the UGC approval is mandatory for any course to be recognised.

10. Illegality of UGCF in DU: The UGC public notice in the form of CCFUGP makes it amply clear that this is the only FYUP structure approved by the UGC for all Universities across the country. Hence the structure of UGCF adopted by DU in 2022-23 is illegal as it is not approved by the UGC. Therefore this illegal structure is being implemented for just one year and will be replaced by another academic programme next year. This shows irresponsibility and callous disregard for academic quality by the DU administration who was in a tearing hurry to implement a draft structure of the UGC without waiting for official notification of the same. Now the students and the teachers of the University of Delhi are saddled with an illegal structure whose academic feasibility and legality are under a serious cloud: thus jeopardising the academic future of lakhs of students.

It would interesting as the UGC has left it to universities for implementation of the FYUP, however, the next academic session would be challenging for both students and faculty.

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