DU to redesign B.A. Economics course; Likely to drop ‘Economics of Discrimination

The B.A. (H) Economics programme is a flagship component of the University of Delhi. All courses of this programme constitute an integrated whole which has been arrived at after unprecedentedly participative and detailed discussions and deliberations.

Delhi University is likely to merge two courses in its BA Economics course and delete one from the upcoming academic session. BA (H) Economics is one of the most sought-after courses at DU and the cut-off for this course used to be in the range of 98-100 percent.

Some of the faculty members of Delhi University have submitted a note to the Standing Committee which has recommended changes in the syllabus and the matter is likely to be taken up during its meeting tomorrow, June 14.

The AC in its meeting on May 26 resolved to constitute a committee “to revisit the syllabi of the Economics department to avoid overlapping similarity and also to include the economics of developed countries in the course content.
No particular courses were mentioned in the mandate to the above committee. However, as per reports, the Committee decided to review only three specific courses:
1) Economy, State and Society
2) Production Relations and Globalization
3) Economics of Discrimination

As per the teachers, the Committee has probably recommended the merger of the first two courses into one course and it has altogether recommended the deletion of the third course. These recommendations are to be taken up for consideration in the Standing Committee meeting on June 14.

Monami Basu, one of the members of the DU Academic Council said: “The Committee had two specific mandates viz. a) to avoid overlapping similarity between courses and b) to include economics of developed countries in the course content. “Given this, we categorically state here that there are no overlaps whatsoever between these three courses or with any other course in the proposed Economics curriculum. A cursory glance at the course structures and reading lists will clearly establish this. Therefore, the Committee’s decision to merge the courses or delete a course goes against the very mandate the committee was set up with.”

According to these teachers, all three courses have significant coverage of the economics of developed countries or cover articles written by well-known academics including those teaching in the US or European Universities. Thus the second concern before the committee is also satisfied by all three courses.

They have also stated that Economy, State and Society is a DSE listed in the Semester III package, which has already been approved by the Academics and the Executive Council along with the other Semester III papers in February 2023. There is no reason and scope to open up the discussion on this paper, which has already been approved by the EC.

“The proposed merger of the above two courses is academically unsound because the two courses are entirely different in content and method. Further, given the reduction of lecture time per course, we have already cut important segments from the currently existing variants of both courses after long deliberations. Any hurried addition and deletion without any well thought structure will simply make any such course unteachable,” says Monami Basu.

The teachers have appealed that all three courses should therefore not be changed at all because they have been prepared through several rounds of deliberation and have been approved by the Committee of Courses, Faculty Committee and the Standing Committee of the AC. Further, they entirely fulfil the concerns of “non-overlapping” and “inclusion of the developed country perspectives.

The B.A. (H) Economics programme is a flagship component of the University of Delhi. All courses of this programme constitute an integrated whole which has been arrived at after unprecedentedly participative and detailed discussions and deliberations. Basu added: “Any suggestions regarding the making changes to these courses or addition of new courses are welcome but these should indeed be made to the Committee of Courses of the Department of Economics.”

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