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Delhi University fumbles with final year results, 200 marks go missing

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In what might be another notch on the its list of mishaps, Delhi University allegedly fumbled with results of the final year students of Journalism Honours. Apparently, the University forgot to add 200 marks to the final score.

According to the current syllabus being followed, the VI semester of the three year Journalism course has two papers -Seminar on current affairs’ and Human rights, Gender and Environment both conducted for the first time in 2013, along with the usual dissertation. The addition of these papers led the total marks to be earned in the VI semester to 400, in comparison to the 200 prior to that. The aggregate marks at the end of the degree now became 2400 but the results which were released on 12th July show the students to be marked only out of 2200, which created a situation of panic among some of the hopeful graduates.

At first, the students assumed that the dissertation marks had gone missing. While many distressed students were confused whether to consider themselves as graduates or not, Journalism students of Kamala Nehru College remained calm about the situation. “The best part is we already know are dissertation marks, so we can include them in ourselves” remarks a student, wanting to be unnamed. Students of other colleges did not share the same fate as their dissertation marks were not disclosed to them.

Later on, as Kamala Nehru students who already knew their dissertation score analysed the 2200 with the marks of their previous semesters, what came into notice was the fact that DU had included the marks of the dissertation but left out the scores of the other two papers.

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While, it is yet to be confirmed from any University official if an error has actually occurred, a faculty member of the course attested to the oversight on the University’s part stating that the University did forget to add the 200 marks and that a new result sheet would soon be uploaded.

The sudden bouts of high blood pressure amidst the students, led to several students using social media to share their worries and their anguish over the result.

Errors in examination results is surely nothing new for the students of Delhi University. Earlier this year, students had reported of over inflation of marks with students scoring 102 in a paper of 100.

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Admissions 2013

Off to college: A guide for outstation freshers

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If you just got yourself enrolled in Delhi University successfully and are not from the capital, here is a warm welcome and a cherry flavored lollipop. We adore sweets.

For many of you, it probably might be the first time that you would leave behind your home and the familiarity of your school hallways and teachers, to be propelled into an unfamiliar territory without your mom to pack your lunch and kiss you goodbye and your dad to just somehow magically find solutions to all your problems, but no fear. College can be a time to reinvent yourself; you are no longer with people who knew you since you were in your nappies. There are new opportunities, new friendships to be made and new places to explore. But the hard part is to pack up your entire old life in a few boxes and try to adapt to a life where laundry just does not appear on your bed, washed and ironed. As an expert in the art of selecting what needs to go in that suitcase and what does not and to prepare oneself for a new life, here are a few tips:

Scout the territory
As soon as you are assigned a room as a paying guest or are granted one in the college hostel, scout your space. Check the shelves and wardrobe allotted to you; ask for the number of people sharing that space. Do not forget to ask about the necessary items you need to bring, like mattress or utensils etc.

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Illustration Credit: Swati Verma

Segregate
The very important thing about college, apart from the studies of course, is your clothes. Fashion aside; do not forget to pack a few basics: Denim jeans, t-shirts, sneakers, tank tops (much needed in the Delhi heat) and sunglasses. As much as you would love to transport your entire wardrobe into your small room in hostel which you would be sharing with another human being, we do not live in Harry Potter. So, segregate into daily wear, for outings, Party wear and whatever suits you’re fancy. I love my shoes, but space restricts me to not bring them all. Anyway, in college you will usually end up wearing two pair at the max daily and Delhi is not short of flea markets selling cheap footwear.

Learn to say no
Your book collection might be your pride and joy, but it can live without you. During your term you are bound to amass a lot of books, so there is no need to pack up that Lord of the Ring series. Bring a few coveted copies which you absolutely can’t survive without. I cherish my copy of the perks of being a wallflower and to kill a mocking bird. Your teacher’s will recommend books, your library will invite you to borrow some and Delhi streets will tempt you to but that thrift copy. Don’t worry.

Also, no matter how much your mom loves you, tell her you are not going to reside a house and you do not need a toaster or a pack of plastic water bottles. You can live without them.

Learn about the city
Delhi at first might seem daunting, with its maze of streets, but soon you will get used to it. Do check upon how you plan to travel to and fro from campus. If you have never used the metro, try it with someone who knows or yourself if you are up for the challenge.

Buy a city guide. There is no harm, it helps in many ways.

A few days before college starts, try and roam around the area, look for: nearest Metro station, Bus stop, Grocery stores, hospitals, Gym, ATMs, Stationary shop, Salon, Cafe, Restaurants etc. You can also ask your landlady about this or the students already residing there.

Campus Central
The best way to learn about the campus is to move around with someone experienced, or two newbie’s will also do. Just scout and talk to various people you find but try not to sound too much like a fresher. Look up the library, canteen and various other facilities. Read up about the college and its history. Do go through the website once.

All in all, remember that you are probably moving in with people who are as clueless about the place and experience as you. It could be a new bonding experience, learning about the place and finding out cheap Chinese delivery restaurants, because trust me, you will need them. Also, remind your Mom that you are not moving into the Bermuda triangle, you can buy the detergent soap she forgot to pack.

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Admissions 2013

Journalism and Mass Communication under FYUP: Course analysis

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Journalism as a course was offered in five colleges of Delhi University presumably, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Kamala Nehru College, Lady Shri Ram College, Maharaja Agrasen and Kalindi College. A separate Honours programme in Mass Media and Mass Communication was available in Indraprastha College for Women, only. The new 4-year undergraduate programme has amalgamated these courses into a single entity: Bachelor in Journalism and Mass communication (BJMC), offered in all 6 colleges.

As per the FYUP guidelines, students of this subject will have to take up 30 subjects in their course of study. The course located within the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Humanities (FASSH), has been designed to provide theoretical and practical knowledge, with the help of four skills based papers, and provides the students with technical skills to help them in their careers.

Admission: Cut off list based on merit

How different is the course now?
From a shift to Journalism and Mass Communication from plain old Journalism, a change is somewhat expected. However, when given a look at the course, it still happens to be extremely dominated by Journalism. The papers in the first year have been minimized to two per semester as opposed to the four earlier. While many papers have been shuffled to different years, a lot have been completely removed, for e.g.: Indian State and Democratic Polity, Indian Economy and Business and International Politics, find no place in the current system. Also, a contemporary paper like  – ‘IT and Online Journalism’ earlier taught in the first semester, has been dissolved into New Media (Semester 3) and Online Journalism (Semester 7) in the new FYUP.

Practical or Theory?
With the obvious decrease in theory papers, many papers from the earlier system find themselves extinct in the current programme or are amalgamated with various other subjects to create a new paper which represents them faintly. For e.g.: Global Politics and the media, in the 6th semester of FYUP, has extractions from various previous papers.  There is an increase in skill based papers which give practical hand on knowledge, like Print Production (Semester 3), Writing and reporting for Print (Semester 4), Documentary Production (Semester 6) and others. The course is definitely no longer just theory based. There are practical subjects in four semesters while two others have research based projects similar to the previous model of a dissertation. Papers such as Media and Cultural Studies and History of Media have survived the brunt of the FYUP, keeping the media theory bits intact.

Discipline Courses – IIWhile Political Science and Economics papers have been scrapped in the new system, the concept of ‘minor’ or DC-II courses might enable students to experience subjects such as Political Science and Sociology. With the present uncertainty around the concept, depending upon the college you are studying in you might be given a choice for your minor field. Most probably, these options would include courses such as English, Sociology and Political Science. You would then be doing six papers in the subject that would be your minor. So in the end if you do get to have Political Science as a minor subject, you would actually be studying more of the subject than in the previous system.

Applied Courses
One of the positive attributes of the FYUP, are the Applied Courses. While in the earlier system, Documentary production was a voluntary activity with no merit awarded to it and photography skills had to be acquired outside of college, FYUP carves out dedicated papers to this skill based subjects. Print Production (Semester 3), teaches students the various design softwares needed in print media. Still Photography (Sem 4) emphasizes on the importance of still photography in media and gives foundation knowledge on composition and framing alongside technical know how. Documentary Production (Semester 6), will provide specialized knowledge for Radio and Video Documentary. The final product of this paper will be a 12-min documentary by the students.

(Journalism and Mass Communication 2013 cut-off)

Expected workload
The students can enjoy a load free first year but there is an incremental increase in difficulty and subjects with each year, as opposed to the firm, four papers every year, in the previous programme. The students will have to manage their time and workload in the third year especially, with five papers at hand. Practical paper based projects will tend to take up a lot more time and energy of the student.

Scope for co-curriculars
Being a professional degree course, Journalism takes up a lot of time of the students, with classes six days a week. But, in the present system there is a relief in the first and second year especially, and students can engage in extracurricular activities.

Exit Points
There are three exit points in this programme. The supposedly Diploma degree after the second year fails to provide wholesome skills and knowledge to the student. These students will do far less number of disciplines as compared to the 4-year student. The biggest fallout will be in terms of the employability of the Diploma and Bachelor degree students who will exit after 2 and 3 years because they will be considered as students who failed to complete the entire 4 year programme. Exiting with a Diploma degree will be a complete waste of time.

Employability
What might improve is the ability of the graduating student to decide on his/her area of interest, as the course gives a brief outlook on all aspects of journalism. The reflection on Mass Communication and other aspects such as Marketing Communications can also help students take career paths in other fields.

Conclusion
With Journalism already being one of the most expensive subjects of Delhi University, students will now have to expend some more. Also, there is the common problem of a serious lack in the teaching department, with a lot of colleges resorting to Ad-Hoc teachers. While the course has not lost much of its originality, the inclusion of technical and skill based disciplines will be of much help to the student.

So while the subject will probably be more enjoyable due to the inclusion of skills based papers and projects, the theoretical knowledge and the fundamental knowledge has been decreased significantly.

(For analysis of other courses click here)

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Arts & Culture

Summer TV Guide for the Comatose

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Summer vacations are already underway and if you are not the unlucky ones who are wading their way through Delhi University admissions under the hot sun and now the water logged roads, count your blessings and write a thank you note to your stars. Now, for some it is essential to stretch those limbs and exercise that derriere after they have been on the receiving ends of their mother’s love and affection,via the stomach, but if you are anything like your’s truly, you shall dump that piece of spandex and hop into a pair of comfortable, roomy, colourful pajamas, open that laptop, log into the neighbour’s unsecured WiFi, and make yourself mighty comfortable on the bed, because tables are for pansies.

Holidays are an opportunity to watch sitcoms and movies we just could not during the semester, and this is exactly what we are going to do.Here is a friendly guide of TV series which you can spend your time watching and enjoying.

 1. Da Vinci’s Demons

Now, if the name itself is not enough to heighten your intrigue, the fact that is a historical fantasy packed with a whole lot of action, mystery, sex and violence should make you running for that DVD. In complete opposition to it’s title, the series has little resemblance to the life of the man behind the name but, what it does have, is this young artist/inventor/engineer battling Draculas, solving complicated puzzles using his sheer brilliance and of course, investing himself in a love triangle. Just lovely! Directed by David Goyer, co-writer of ‘ The Dark Knight’ trilogy, season 1 is a whole of 8 episodes, a complete fix for a lazy weekend.

 

2. Sherlock

If Benedict Cumberbatch grew on tree, I would have a whole orchard of him. As if the accent is not swoon-worthy enough, he is also an amazing actor.You might remember him from Star Trek Into Darkness as Khan Noonien Singh, and he will also be portraying famed news-leaker, Julian Assange, in The Fifth Estate. Sherlock is a contemporary adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work, in which Sherlock and Watson use the modern day technology available to them to solve crimes. So there are websites, blogging, Google maps and nicotine patches. There are two seasons with a total of six episodes. The third season is currently under production.


3. Orphan Black

Tatiana Maslany deserves an Emmy for her performance. Being cited as one of the best show to be aired on television recently, BBC’s Orphan Black is fast paced with a fierce plot that almost keeps you at the edge of your seat. What Priyanka Chopra failed to deliver with her tragically flop film What’s your Rashee?, Maslany achieves it and some more. Sarah Manning (Maslany), is a young British mother living in Canada. A small-time con artist, she sees her doppelganger commit suicide by stepping in front of a train, after stealing the woman’s purse and identity, Sarah the con artist becomes Beth the cop, scrambling to fool her partner and discovering more women who look just like her. Maslany does justice to every role she portrays, be it the hipster or the suburban mom, it is hard to believe that it is one woman playing all the characters. Watch this sci-fi series for the future of cloning and for Tatiana Maslany.

4. Awkward

High School, boys, embarrassing parents, conniving Asians, love triangle or quadrangle (depending on the episode) and a whole lot of awkwardness, 15- year old Jenna Hamilton is victim of a freak accident which everybody thinks is a suicide attempt and thus begins her journey of awkwardness. The series is easy to watch, a light comedy and with typical teenage elements. Best thing about the show is the sarcastic and snarky voice-over and the counsellor, yes the fanny pack wearing counsellor. Currently in it’s third season, watch it if nostalgia sets in  or a break from too much mind work is needed.


5. Downton Abbey

This one is for the ladies. Downton Abbey, a British period drama set in and after the World War II easily draws you into the life of the Crawley family and their servants. At the beginning of the season, Titanic has just sunk, taking with it the Downton heir and leaving the house in jeopardy. The series seems familiar and there just might be episodes which are disinteresting, but it manages to captivate and soon, you find yourself rooting for the lovers and hoping for the best. The series is currently in it’s third season.

Also, must watch:

Hannibal, Girls, The Americans, Games of Thrones, Bate’s Motel, GO ON

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Events

Jackie Chan at China Film Festival in New Delhi

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DSCN9029Jackie Chan loves to sing, the movie 3 Idiots and Biryani. At the China Film Festival held in Siri Fort Complex on 18th June, the multi-faceted actor talked about fostering better ties between the two growing economies. Chan, who was here to inaugurate the first ever China Film Festival in India displayed his interest in acting in a Bollywood movie. “I can sing and dance….I am a good actor,” said the star. He also sent out an open invitation to Bollywood directors to hire him in  their movies stating that all he needed was “a good script”. He wishes to change his image as that of an action superstar to that of an actor and added that he wants to be remembered as “Asia’s Robert De Niro”.

Present with him were his co-stars from his latest film ‘Chinese Zodiac’, who were all praises for him as a director to which Chan quipped,“They have to love me or they are fired!” On being questioned about the strain in the India-China relations recently, Chan hesitant at first, replied that we cannot choose our neighbours and that, we should make more movies on peace. On his never playing the role of the ‘bad guy’ in his films ChanDSCN9030 said, “Young children watch my movies and I do not want to be a bad influence on them.” As an actor and a director, Chan feels it is his responsibility to produce a clean, free of violence film for his audience.

Chan felt that even though there is a lot of good cinema coming out of India, the producers are just not putting in enough effort to promote it globally. The star quipped that he has no time for vacations and only accepts invitation, if there is work involved.

Image credits: Niharika Singh

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