Ignoring UGC's directive to start the admission process for undergraduate courses Thursday morning, Delhi University on threw the ball back in the Commission's court by sending it a proposal suggested by academicians to resolve the issue.
The UGC had on Wednesday night set a deadline of Thursday morning for the Delhi University to roll back the controversial four-year undergraduate programme and start admission for the old three-year structure.
In response to the UGC's order, the DU sent a letter this morning to the Commission which said "the university is of the opinion that given the situation where admissions are being delayed, time is the essence and hence this blended proposal submitted by some eminent persons to the UGC and DU may provide the necessary way forward.
"This proposal entails admitting all students to a three-year undergraduate course with honours and will also obviate the need to call for fresh registrations. We await your response in order to convene the statutory bodies at the earliest in the best interest of the students and the academic community," the letter signed by DU Registrar Alka Sharma read.
Speaking to media persons, DU's Media Coordinator Malay Neerav said, “We received a new proposal wherein the honours degree will be given in 3 years. We won't need much time to implement this proposal. We have written a letter to UGC stating the same. We are now awaiting UGC's response on the new proposal from UGC.”
As uncertainty looms over the DU admission process, Neerav said time was "very precious" and the proposal which has given a six-point formula suggesting that honours degree be given in three years would be much easier for the university to implement and start the admissions at the earliest.
"UGC has been writing letters to us urging us to start admitting students based on the old three-year format. We have told them that we need time to follow the old procedure because there are course committees, statutory bodies and they will need to meet for that purpose.
However, if we can tweak the existing (+4) course into the +3 format wherein BA (Hons) Degree will be given in 3 years and we can start admitting the students as soon as possible," Neerav said.
The DU Registrar had on Wednesday said that the university has received a "document" from some eminent citizens outlining "concrete" suggestions for the solution of the current situation as it exists.
The proposal suggested a three-year honours programme that is devised by reverting to several features of the old semester format and reducing the existing courses that are not of the honours stream under FYUP.
It also suggested that the existing B Tech courses should be left untouched except for reduction in the number of foundation courses.
The proposal further suggested that the university may wish to offer fourth year of study which can be done by creating a Honours by Research programme within an overall credit based system with the approval of all regulatory bodies.
“While welcoming this initiative, the University is examining in detail the document and is working with the expectation that the admission process shall be able to commence soon," Sharma had said in her statement.
The proposal, suggested by a group of academicians and eminent persons including Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Vice Chancellor Anil Tyagi, Panjab University VC Arun Grover, St Stephen's college principal Valson Thampu and professor Vijay Choudhary, was submitted to Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh.
Nandita Narain, Delhi University Teachers Association President and member of a 10-member Standing Committee of the UGC, criticised the proposal and said it was "formatted suggestions" and an "easy way out".
Meanwhile, hundreds of students staged a protest outside VC's residence demanding complete rollback of FYUP. They sat outside the residence blocking traffic and raised slogans.
Police presence has been beefed up in the area and barricades have been erected outside the VC residence.
