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The University of Delhi is set to introduce 18 new courses from the academic session  2023-2024, announced DU VC Yogesh Singh on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. A five-year LLB program, 8 Medical Science Programs, and B.Tech programs are the highlights of these courses.

On February 28 2023, DU Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh, announced that DU is set to launch 18 new courses beginning from the academic year 2023-24. The new decision will create room for several new, unprecedented courses at DU, including a five-year LLB program, MBA in Business Analytics, 8 Medical Science programs, and even B.Tech programs. Other programs for both UG and PG shall also be included in these 18 courses.

Emulating the five-year course structure of the National Law Universities, the inclusion of five-year integrated programs in LLB will now allow high school graduates to directly pursue law at the UG level from Delhi University. Besides LLB, the decision to expand DU’s course catalog to also include programs in Medical Sciences and Engineering is an implementation of a part of the New Education Policy. The aim is to enhance the quality and dissolve the erstwhile distinctions between streams and pave the way for diversity in education. The varsity has also mentioned BCA LLB and B.COM LLB as prospective add-on courses to this list. 

“Students who enroll in the new programs will be able to benefit immensely from the rich quality of education imparted here and the curriculum will be interdisciplinary in nature. For instance, we already have the Faculty of Management Studies, and professors from there can teach certain papers of the BBA LLB program. Similarly, (the) law (course) includes papers of political science as well. There might be five different kinds of papers and the professor with the relevant specialization can teach the course.”

– A University of Delhi official

DU Registrar Vikas Gupta has stated that the varsity administration is still deliberating upon the possible avenues to implement this efficiently. It is working on a detailed framework designed to delineate the fundamentals of the admissions process for these courses. There is still no confirmation whether the admission to these courses will also traverse the prevailing CUET method or not. “It is still under the planning stage and we are trying to launch the programs by the next academic session”, he said.

Vidushi Sinha

[email protected]

Read also: DU to Introduce New Courses for Academic Year 2019-20

Psychology, Journalism, Geography among others are not available to men in DU. Despite being popular choices, male aspirants need to turn to alternate universities to pursue these courses.

University of Delhi (DU) gains as much criticism as is the prestige around its colleges. With the cut offs rising so fast students invest their all to ensure they can secure a seat in a top college. Is it possible for some to lose in this race even before they begin? Or for some students to win the race but not the prize?

This is the fate of men wanting to pursue courses such as Psychology, Journalism, Geography and Sociology in DU. These and several other courses are only offered in girls’ colleges or in very few co-ed colleges, which has gained the University a lot of criticism. It then becomes a matter of approaching different Universities or choosing a college among the few that offer the course of choice.

Journalism is only available to men in three colleges including Delhi School of Journalism, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce and Maharaja Agrasen College. Among the 16 colleges for Philosophy, ten colleges are for women, leaving St Stephens, Hindu College, Ramanaujan College and few others for male aspirants.

Sociology is available in only two colleges- Hindu and Sri Venkateshawara College. Psychology is offered to men in Zakir Hussain, Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College.

Geography is offered in co-ed colleges such as Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Dyal Singh College, Kirori Mal College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Shivaji College and Swami Shardhanand College.

Home Science not offered to boys in any of the 90 colleges in DU. Some of these courses are included in BA Programme and are offered as minor or General Elective courses. But this means the students will have to compromise on an Honours degree in the subject they love.

These courses remain restricted to girl’s colleges and our education system remains regressive.

Rishabh Kumar, a student of Psychology from Christ University expressed his grievance, “This is an appalling scenario for an institution like Delhi University. Since we are transcending the biological differences that did exist, a decision of that sort needs to be revised. It’s unimaginable to exist in an environment where comprehension of knowledge is limited to certain gender.”

Raunaq of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College commented, “For me it was a choice between Political Science and Psychology as my major. The latter was offered in only few colleges, where I was not keen on studying, therefore I went ahead with Political Science. I do believe I am one of the lucky ones as compared to the guys who only want to do Psychology.”

Turning to private universities also means a huge increase in the annual fee and pouring lakhs of rupees each year. While some are saving up for their Masters, others simply do not have this privilege. This can become distressful, especially with those lacking flexibility in course.

On speaking to a national daily, Ms Anupa Siddhu, Principal of Lady Irwin College said how there was no “gender bias” but identified the problem as co-ed colleges not “showing interest in starting the course”.  On speaking to the same daily, the Principal of Aryabhatta College expressed that there exists a “lack of demand” for Home Science and offering these can be difficult due to limited resources. He further went on to suggest that the women’s colleges offering these courses should accommodate male students as well.

“It was extremely difficult to find a good college which offered Sociology for boys, without having to dish out ten lakhs. This reflects on the prevailing mentality in DU that only girls take Sociology”, remarked Kabir Madan a student of Sociology from Shiv Nadar University.

The race will soon begin as the cut of lists will be released this week, students wait in anticipation not knowing what the future holds. On asking many students, who faced this situation in the previous years, what advice they had for aspirants they all emphasised on how happy they were wherever they had ended up. Many talked about how with the existing mindset it is already difficult for many to open about how they are now aiming for these courses, it becomes further demotivating to not be able to qualify for DU. However, one year down the lane, it will seem like the right decision.

Madan added, “I think most of my batchmates ended up in places we least expected to end up in at the beginning of 12th grade. And it all turned out to be great for me, even though I did not initially expect it to (at that time). After a year, I am very happy with my decision.”

Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Shivani Dadhwal

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DU has declared new courses and increased the number of seats in colleges as a measure to increase higher education opportunities for aspirant.
The University of Delhi (DU) has announced an introduction of 30 new courses in approximately 20 colleges as a part of its curriculum for the upcoming academic session 2019-20. These will be at both undergraduate and post graduate level. These courses are currently available at some other colleges in DU. This decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi University Academic Council (AC) on 17th January 2018. In addition to this, the council is also set to increase the admission intake by 232 seats in existing courses at two colleges. The number of seats in BA (programme) at Hansraj College has been increased from 40 to 200 from the next academic session. Also, the number of seats in BSc program at Aditi Mahavidhlaya has been increased from 55 to 80. The college will also admit 50 more students in B Com (H) from the next academic session.
The list of new undergraduate courses to be introduced, and the corresponding colleges are as follows:
• BA (H) in Bhimrao Ambedkar College
• BA (H) in Economics in Dayal Singh College (evening) and Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
• BA (H) in Philosophy in Hasraj College
• BA (H) in Psychology in Laxmibai College and Bhaskaracharya College
• BA (H) in History Dyal Singh College
• BA (H) in Political Science in Bhimrao Ambedkar College
• BA (H) Hindi Journalism and Mass Communication in Jesus and Mary College
• BSc (H) in environmental science in Vivekananda College and Indraprastha College for women
The list of new postgraduate courses to be introduced, and the corresponding colleges are as follows:
• MA in English in Shri Gurunank Dev College
• MA in Hindi in Sri Venkateswara College and Shaheed Bhagat Singh College
• MSc in operational research at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and Keshav College
These are welcome changes, as the increase in availability of courses at more colleges will open up more diversified avenues for students from the upcoming academic session.

Previously, there was a huge difference in the number of seats available and the number of applicants, which acted as a deterrent for many deserving applicants. These changes will ensure that a larger number of students are able to enroll, decreasing the propensity of those being left behind.
These courses were first approved in September 2018, and finalised during the 2nd January 2019 Academic Council meeting which was adjourned till 17th January 2019. The decision had faced unprecedented delay owing to multiple external management related factors at DU. According to Mr. Saikat Ghosh, Member, Academic Council, “Approval of new courses in the Academic Council took a backseat due to the heated controversy on the UGC Regulations, especially on the issues of Contractual Employment. Many new courses have already been approved by the AC’s Standing Committee on New Courses. But they cannot be implemented unless they are formally approved by the larger AC and EC. The B.Voc. and M.Voc. courses approved under the National Skill Qualifications Scheme have not even been approved by the Standing Committee as the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences is still deliberating on them. This slow movement by the University is harming the prospect of these new courses.”
This move is going to ensure more opportunities in higher education, and Du needs to deliver in terms of quality of education, especially amid the current dissatisfaction and unrest among the teacher community regarding their employment terms.

Feature Image Credits: Niharika Dabral for DU Beat

Nikita Bhatia
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Courses like the Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed) and B.Sc. Home Science are only available to women, while girls’ colleges continue to dominate the available seats in Psychology.

With females venturing in male-dominated spaces and vice versa, our workspaces are slowly but steadily becoming gender-neutral. However, it seems that the University of Delhi (DU) is still perpetuating (and encouraging) gender stereotypes – even in 2017.

As of now, there are only five out of twelve colleges co-educational colleges in DU which offer an undergraduate degree in Psychology. None of the five options available for boys hold high reputation, whereas girls have the option of studying the subject at prestigious institutions such as Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) and Jesus and Mary College (JMC). The limited number of seats and absence of good colleges deter boys from studying Psychology from DU and ultimately, they have to seek admission in expensive private colleges. Anuradha Das Mathur, the Founding Dean of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, writes in an essay, “The benefits of diversity are as critical in the classroom as they are in the workplace. In areas influenced by psychology, the absence of men brings along even more exaggerated risks.”

While the situation is bad in Psychology, it is even worse (hopeless) in the elementary education programme. The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed), a four-year integrated professional degree programme which qualifies a student to practice as teachers at the elementary school level, is currently available at eight colleges – none of which are co-ed.

University of Delhi colleges that offer B.El.Ed.

  1.    Aditi Mahavidyalaya
  2.    Gargi College
  3.    Institute of Home Economics
  4.    Jesus & Mary College
  5.    Lady Shri Ram College for Women
  6.    Mata Sundari College
  7.    Miranda House
  8.    Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College

There are very good chances that during school we addressed more teachers as ‘ma’am’ as compared to the seldom-used ‘sir.’ Teaching is one such field where the male-female ratio is almost equal (as of 2011, 45.5% of teachers in schools are women). Teaching is believed to be ideal for women because the short working hours, holidays, and statutory work environment make it convenient for them to manage household responsibilities alongside their job. Also, stereotypical feminine traits like motherly affection and patience are associated with teaching. This is the reason why more and more women take up teaching as a career, but just because a career path is often charted by certain gender norms, this shouldn’t be an excuse for the public-funded educational institutions to limit the access for another gender.

Just like B.El.Ed, there are no DU colleges that offer Home Science to boys. Currently, only two all-girls’ colleges – the Institute of Home Economics and Lady Irwin College – teach B.Sc. (Hons.) Home Science. In popular culture, Home Science as a subject has been described as “cooking or stitching,” a course that teaches you how to be a good housewife. People often overlook that a Home Science student can very well be a nutritionist, dietician, counsellor, or a textile specialist. It’s true that enriched prejudices and clichés are reasons which deter boys from pursuing Home Science, but the lack of seats/colleges shouldn’t be one.

Yatin Arora, a hotel management and catering student of Ansal University says “I had Home Science in class 12th, and I wanted to study it further. However, there were no options available for me in the University of Delhi. The girls who scored less than me in Home Science have secured  seats in Lady Irwin College, while I’m studying in a private college.”

It is indisputable that we need more female engineers and scientists, but we also want more boys in the capacity of therapists and crèche owners. The idea that culinary art, elementary education, and psychology are women-oriented fields is a patriarchal construct. The University of Delhi, as a progressive-feminist space, shouldn’t reinforce these gender stereotypes by segregating some so-called feminine courses from interested male students.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Next Regeneration

 

Niharika Dabral

[email protected]