Countdown begins for the end of watertight study streams at Delhi University

Updated on: Thursday, January 17, 2013

With the start of 2013, the countdown has begun for the end of watertight study streams at Delhi University. This July, new entrants at the undergraduate level will be free to pick from a bouquet of courses, combining science, arts and commerce subjects for a four-year degree. The traditional BA/ BSc/ BCom nomenclature will be dispensed with, without reducing the overall intake.

Students registering this year will opt for admissions in two courses — Discipline I and II. While Discipline I will fetch an honors degree at the end of four years, students will be eligible to take up a master's course in their Discipline II subjects as well.

According to university sources, the total seats for BA, BSc and BCom programmes will be merged.

The four-year degree structure approved by the statutory bodies of the university — Academic and Executive councils — in December 2012 comprises Discipline I and II course papers, 11 foundation course papers and five application course papers. Discipline I will have two project-based research papers to be pursued only by those who continue in the fourth year of degree — the seventh and eighth semesters.

"There will be 20 Discipline I papers in all and they will start right from the first semester. Discipline II courses will start from the third semester. The foundation course will include one paper each on English and a modern Indian language. There will be two papers on 'mind-body-heat', which is value-based education and there will be no exams for these papers," said Virender Bhardwaj, a member of the 61-member task force DU set up to frame the structure.

Admission seekers in 2013 will choose two subjects — for example, economics and English — as Discipline I and II respectively, unlike now when a candidate gets enrolled in a specific honors course. On completion of four years of study, students will get an honors degree in Discipline I. "But the student is also eligible to pursue master's in the course opted for in Discipline II," added Bhardwaj.

The structural changes are planned to offer students opportunities to choose and pursue across disciplines and streams with the application courses. The idea is to align the structural change with foreign university and international practice. "A bouquet of application courses will be offered where a commerce student can take a music course, or a student who is pursuing physics in Discipline I and chemistry in Discipline II can pursue sociology or literature as application course. Right now, there is no such scope for students," said Bhardwaj.

The foundation courses, too, will offer an opportunity for overall personality development as students get to choose courses on environment and health, communication skills, mathematical ability, science and life or even IT, among others.

As far as the broad structure is concerned, apart from replacing the present three year undergraduate studies with a four year one, the new undergraduate programme will also have two exit options. A student can exit at the second year with a associate baccalaureate degree or in the third year with a baccalaureate degree. On completion of the four years of study a student will be awarded with a baccalaureate with honours/ BTech degree.

In 2012 a section of teachers and students staged a prolonged struggle against these radical reforms claiming that the university administration has been pushing for the reforms without proper consultation. While the university managed to get the approvals of the statutory bodies in favour of the reforms, a group of teachers are still continuing with the struggle and is running a signature campaign department wise.

Countdown begins for the end of watertight study streams at Delhi University

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