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UGC Directs Universities to Set up Mental Health helplines for Students

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Universities and colleges across the country have been issued guidelines by the University Grant’s  Commision (UGC) to address psychological concerns of students during the COVID-19 lockdown.

 

“During the period of national lockdown, it is equally important to address any kind of mental health and psychological concerns of the student community during and after the COVID-19”, said UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain in a recent notice addressed to vice-chancellors and principals across the nation. 

 

UGC has therefore directed all colleges and universities to set up mental health helplines for assisting students during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The helplines would be regularly monitored and managed by Counsellors and other identified faculty members who are capable of guiding students in the right direction. 

 

Official Notice:

https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/7012639_Mental-Health-and-Well-Being-of-the-Students.pdf

 

UGC emphasized that in order to reassure the student community to avoid any kind of stress or panic in the prevailing situation vis-a-vis their studies, health and other issues, all universities must take measures for mental health and psychological well-being of their students.

 

The commission appealed to colleges to remain calm and stress free. It also suggested forming COVID-19 help groups of students headed by hostel wardens or senior faculty members that can identify their friends or classmates in need of help and provide necessary counselling to deal with stress and anxiety. 

 

“There should be regular mentoring of students through interactions that can be achieved via telephones, e-mails, digital and social media platforms”, Jain added. 

 

The official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuKhtSehp24

Caption: Colleges are expected to share videos on managing one’s mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak through their websites.

 

UGC has also shared the Psycho-Social toll-free helpline number of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – 0804611007. Students and faculty members can contact this helpline to seek professional counselling to resolve their mental health concerns.

Feature Image Credits: Zee News

Aishwaryaa Kunwar

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Campus Central

UGC Likely to Extend Deadline for Research

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With libraries and educational institutions shutting down across the country due to Covid-19, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is expected to extend the submission deadlines for research work by six months.

Keeping in mind the problems faced by research scholars in undertaking research work in the ongoing pandemic and lockdowns, former Executive Council members of University of Delhi (DU) have appealed to the UGC to postpone the research submission date by at least six months. “In the current extraordinary situation of crisis, it is not possible to carry out research work since consultation of an expert is required and library resources are essential as all references/books are not available as e-resources”, they added.

Most of the research scholars were expected to submit their thesis in a stipulated time as set up by the Ordinance of the University and was due in March-April. However in the second week of March during the semester break, the university was declared closed till 31st March followed by a complete lockdown in the country.

The Federation of Central Universities’ Teachers’ Association (FEDCUTA) in a letter to the UGC Chairman, D P Singh wrote, “Many PhD and MPhil research scholars have been enabled to conduct research in this period. Absence of laboratory and library facilities except for select few e-resources have left scholars largely resourceless. They have not been able to do any field work too.” They also pointed out that the pandemic has affected the mind frame of the research scholars and disrupted the pace of their work.

“We request you to take cognizance of the difficult circumstances and issue instructions to universities to give an extension of six months to all scholars across the country who were due to submit their thesis/dissertations or hold their pre-submission seminars,” they added.

With multiple requests being made for the extension, the UGC Chairman stated that a seven-member committee had been formed to discuss changes in the academic calendar due to the lockdown and that the next session would be started right after it is lifted. He asserted on avoiding any delays thereafter in the examinations as well.

Taking into account the uncertainty in the current situation, UGC is likely to extend the research deadlines and an official announcement is expected to be made soon.

Feature Image Credits: Zee News
Feature Image Caption: DU appeals to UGC for extending the deadline for submitting research by 6 months.

Aishwaryaa Kunwar

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Campus Central

UGC Proposes On-Demand Exams for Undergraduate Level

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University Grants Commission (UGC) has requested the current government to introduce on-demand examinations at the undergraduate level to reduce failures and malpractices that happen during scheduled exams. UGC also wants to ensure that the decision to appear for the exam comes from the students and not the institution.

The University Grants Commission (UGC)  panel has suggested that on-demand examinations be introduced for students at the undergraduate level. UGC has proposed for a National Board to conduct examinations emphasising on “exams should be held when the learner is ready” and urged the current Modi government to introduce the initiative.

This proposal would be a reform by the UGC panel on evaluation. The proposal would reorganise and rearrange matters that relate to examinations which were set up in May 2018 in a committee that was chaired by Vice Chancellor, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Pune, M.M. Salunkhe.

According to the report submitted by UGC last week, the UGC panel stated, “Assessment can take place when the learners consider themselves ready to appear. Thus readiness depends on the learner and not institutions.” The panel also added that this initiative would lead to a reduction in failures and also malpractices that occur during scheduled examinations.

The plan suggested an extensive use of automation and technology, with question papers being drawn from a question bank. The Board suggested that the on-demand exams should first begin for distance mode programmes and then be implemented to all other eligible programmes without any age or eligibility restrictions.

UGC also recommended setting up of a National Board that would deal with the operation and execution of these on-demand examinations. “Uniform grading and credit transfer policies must be evolved for this to work”, said the report by the UGC panel.

This evaluation reform is based on the poor nature of University’s productivity. It also aims to change the dearth of employment that Indian graduates and postgraduates face.

Though many students welcome the idea, thinking it to be synonymous to the GMAT tests, others remain sceptical. Nidhi, second-year student, Daulat Ram College told DU Beat, “The idea is good and is definitely an attempt to show that universities and the educational committees are trying to be more student-friendly, and are finally catching up to international standards.”

She further added, “However, I don’t think universities- or least the government universities have enough resources to be able to implement these efficiently. This will ultimately lead to chaos and in the end, it will up to us students to bear the brunt of all the poor implementation.”

Teachers also echoed similar concerns about the inefficiency of the suggestion. As reported by The Print, Professor Amita Singh, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University said, “A university is not a call centre that can work 24X7 to fulfil the demands of innumerable students. Academic preparation needs discipline, a conducive environment for students to think, discuss and debate while preparing for exams. There should also be the availability of libraries, books, coffee shops and hostels.”

However, keeping the debate of efficiency aside, it must be noted that while the UGC issued guidelines to all universities in 2015 to offer students a choice based credit system, the current reality is that there is little flexibility or choice for learners. It added that students should have the freedom to opt for courses beyond their core specialisations.

Feature Image Credits: India Today

Shreya Juyal

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DUB News

High Court Orders Stay on Semester Exams for SOL Students

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After protests by School of Open Learning (SOL) students against cancelled classes and lack of study material, The Delhi High Court (HC) orders a stay on semester exams scheduled in December for SOL students.

SOL had decided to implement the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) from the academic session 2019-20. This change meant that SOL would move into the system which other Delhi University (DU) colleges follow, with exams at the end of every semester instead of annual exams. The hasty and ill-implemented nature of this decision led to several problems such as lack of study material, incomplete syllabus in most honours courses, and cancelled classes.

The initiative which may have been well-intended, was poorly implemented. On 17th November 2019, SOL students came out to protest against the Vice Chancellor (VC) for the same. The protest was in the form of a funeral march for the VC. They had also held a protest outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) where they had tonsured their hair and sent it to the Union HRD minister, Delhi Education Minister, UGC, DU, and SOL authorities as a symbolic representation of how they had been orphaned by the authorities.

On 5th November, four student activists had moved the court regarding this matter and their plea was accepted by the Delhi HC. The HC has ordered a stay on the December examinations in SOL by the University. The University will now hold both semester examinations at the end of the second semester, much like the method that was followed in SOL before the implementation of CBCS this academic session.

The students in a statement reported by the Times of India said, “Delhi High Court took DU on all the irregularities and violations evident in the manner in which CBCS has been implemented. Apart from pushing back of November-December exams, the University has to report to an annual nodal officer on the preparations made for the smooth running of the CBCS program in SOL.”

However, SOL director CS Dubey said that the University gave suggestions to the courts. A senior official goes on to say, “If IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) conducts exams of two semesters together, so can we. We have tried our best to make sure that SOL students should be at par with regular students. But some organisations wanted to disrupt that. There are many students who still want to give the exam in December this year.” They point out that exams in December would mean that will have to burden their resources, as different papers will have to be prepared and the number of days extended.

 

(With excerpts from the Times Of India)

 

 Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

 

Prabhanu Kumar Das

 

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UGC asks Varsities to Adopt Khadi as Their Ceremonial Dress

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a circular advocating the use of khadi or handloom textiles in over 50,000 universities and colleges for ceremonial dresses, like convocations. 

Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UGC has advocated the usage of khadi or handloom textiles in ceremonial dresses. The circular addressed to over 50,000 universities and colleges, states, “The honourable Prime Minister has advocated the use of khadi and also emphasized on the revival of handlooms. Mahatma Gandhi used khadi, a handspun and handloom cloth as a weapon during the struggle for Independence, and hence it is also known as ‘Liveries of Freedom’…the use of khadi and other handlooms will not only give a sense of pride of being Indian, but also be more comfortable in hot and humid weather.”

The erstwhile ‘Western’ attire of convocations has long been a discourse over the loss of Indian-ness, thus, a few institutions such as Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, IIT Bombay, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur, and Gujarat University have already adopted khadi or handloom textiles as their ceremonial dress. 

Signed by UGC secretary Rajnish Jain, the circular aims to preserve the Indian culture and heritage and sustain the livelihood for lakhs of rural people. “I request you to kindly take appropriate action to adopt khadi and/or handloom fabric for ceremonial dresses to encourage the use of khadi…,” reads the circular.

As quoted to Hindustan Times, a Delhi University professor, maintaining anonymity, said, “The language of the circular is very interesting. While it did not use the word mandatory, it expects universities to take action. We are not against khadi or handloom but I believe universities and colleges need to be left alone to make a decision on what they wish to adopt. It is an indirect directive to fall in line. It’s symbolism, not Indian pride, that the education regulator is trying to get us to believe.”

 

Feature Image Credits: The New Leam

 

Anandi Sen 

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News

SOL Set to Have New Centres After Students Complaint

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School of Open Learning plans to have new centres after several students complaint about distance and accommodation facilities.

University of Delhi’s School of Open Learning (SOL) has decided to open a new building in Tahirpur, East Delhi. The tentative structure would be a seven storey long building on a 2,100 square metre land at Dilshad Garden. The varsity is also planning to open two other centres in Rohini and Uttam Nagar, to cater students from North West and West Delhi. Around 20,000 students from the area adjoining  Loni in Tahirpur, Rohini and Uttam Nagar are  enrolled for different courses at SOL.

A new examination branch will also be built to avoid delays in conduction of exams and declaration of results. This decision came after first year students protested against the implementation of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) in SOL after it got approval from Executive Council. The students complained that the current Centre in North Campus did not have enough space to accommodate students who came for the Personal Contact Programme, which endeavoured to equip students with the required infrastructure.

Ramesh Bharadwaj, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), informed the Times of India that SOL will streamline the system. The college has available land in Tahirpur area and it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Central Public Works departments (CPWD) to erect a seven storey building. He advocated for the implementation of CBCS in SOL as the institute was not recognized by Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Open and Distance Learning for it used to follow the Three Year Undergraduate Programme system that has been revoked from almost all the colleges of Delhi University.

Moreover, he added, “More than 90% study materials have been published and we are inviting students daily in batches of 3,000 to collect it. We have already provided soft copies since 25th August, a week before classes started on 1st September.”

The University Grant Commission launched the CBCS system in 2016 for Delhi University but SOL adhered to the old Three Year Undergraduate Programme till August 2018 when it along with NCWEB switched to CBCS to pace up with other colleges of varsity.

Prior to this, SOL had only 20 classes in a year but now the institute can easily hold 17-20 classes, per semester at 42 centers.

 

Featured Image Credits: India Today

Priyanshu

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Admissions

ABVP Protests Against Nepotism in Admissions

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ABVP protests against fraud and nepotism in the admission process of a Ph.D./M.Phil. student and violation of UGC regulations by the Department of Political Science of the University of Delhi (DU).

Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) volunteers gathered at the Faculty of Arts and marched to the Department of Political Science on 18th October, 2019, for the second day of their protest against the administration of Political Science Department for the ongoing corruption, nepotism and violation of University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines in the admission process.

The Department of Political Science has allegedly conducted its Ph.D./ M.Phil. admissions without adherence to UGC regulations and University of Delhi statutes, resulting in favouritism and negligence of merit. ABVP has been protesting since the 17th October, 2019 against the fraud in the admission process in the Ph.D. of this Department, violation of rules and regulations of University Grant Commission, and favouritism in the admission process. According to the Press Release issued by ABVP, a group of Professors, who are ideologically intolerant of liberal ideas, they are denying admission to the meritorious students.

This protest has come after discrepancies in the 2019 admissions. Apparently, on 7th October, the list of the selected candidates was published. However, after two hours, it was removed and a new list was published. The only difference, it no longer had the name of a girl belonging to the Scheduled Castes category. The administration of the Department has not given the reasons for the removal of the name yet. Moreover, only 13 seats out of the 18 available seats were opened for admission.

Ashutosh Singh, State Media In-charge for ABVP, said to DU Beat, “We came to know through the students that the professors tend to give preference to their favourite students in the viva for the entrance exam, neglecting the ones who are also deserving. Last year it came to our notice that even the top ranking students of the entrance exam were not able to get admission after the viva. How is it possible for the top rankers to completely fail in viva?”

ABVP has asked the administration of Political Science Department seven questions regarding the inconsistencies in the admission process and has given the administration an ultimatum to answer their queries by Monday. ABVP claims to also have written letters to the Dean of Political Science Department, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi and Vice President of India for this purpose. Apart from this, the ABVP volunteers have also placed the following demands:

  1. Make admission process to M.Phil./Ph.D. fair and transparent.
  2. The admission process must be centralized and time-bound.
  3. Admission must be conducted in adherence to UGC regulations and the University of Delhi statutes.
  4. All the seats offered by DU prospectus for Ph.D. intake should be fulfilled at the earliest by all the Departments.
  5. The number of seats for the research must be increased.
  6. Social Justice must be implemented in all its constitutional and legal dimensions.
  7. The UGC prescribed 70:30 ratio of written exam to viva-voce must be implemented with all its transparency.
  8. The examination process must be student-friendly and the bureaucratic red-tapism must be curbed.
  9. Steps must be taken to curtail the influence of Teachers’ politics on the admission process.
  10. Address the grievances of those students who have been denied admission on fraudulent grounds.

Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP Delhi, said in the Press Release, “Administration of Political Science Department should not think that yesterday we were here only for a symbolic protest, we will continue our protest till the student interests are not secured. Our protest will turn into a revolution if the administration will not listen to our demands.”

 

Featured Image Credits: University of Delhi 

Satviki Sanjay

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Campus Central

Despite Protests, DU Signs Funding MoU

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Despite protests by teachers, the University of Delhi (DU) has signed a contentious tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) with regard to its funding.

In September last year, the MHRD had sent DU a notice that its funding would be withheld if it doesn’t sign the agreement which, as reported by The Indian Express, was termed “arm-twisting” by the DUTA. As reported by NDTV, The tripartite MoU requires universities to continuously increase the internal (self-generated) financial resource through fee hike, shift to revenue-earning commercial courses, engagement with other commercial activities, and manage greater part of their research activities through extramural funding.

It also mentions that release of funds and loans from Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) for expansion of infrastructure will depend on the institution’s performance. The DUTA had said that tripartite MoU initiate steps towards the privatisation design that forms the core of the Draft National Education Policy (NEP). “The Draft NEP 2019 aims to reduce the number of Higher Education Institutions (HIEs) while increasing the size of surviving institutions, which will be governed similarly by a privatised Board of Governors and have to have a development office to secure sources of funding other than government funding,” they added. UGC Secretary, Rajnish Jain, and sources in the MHRD confirmed that the MoU was signed last week.

Press Statement by Executive Council (EC), stated that J L Gupta & Rajesh Jha, members of EC, protested against signing of tripatrite MoU with MHRD and UGC recently, by the Vice Chancellor (VC), Mr. Yogesh Tyagi. They came to know that the VC has signed it and then, they wrote a letter to VC raising objection over its grave compromises with the autonomy of the university as conferred by the Parliament through DU Act 1922. It also stated, “This MoU imposes privatisation and contractualisation, on which they strongly dissented in the concerned committee and the EC. This MoU will change the inclusive character of higher education in India as the loans from HEFA are forced on us. When the whole University community has rejected this MoU, the VC should have gone for wider consultation with the statutory bodies and the elected bodies of students, karamcharis, and teachers rather than signing it up in a hush hush manner.” They have also demanded for the authorities to share all information and documents related to the MoU and stop its implementation in the University as it breaches the provisions of the Parliamentary Act. Rajib Ray, President, DUTA, too condemned the MoU and said, “We are yet to see which version was signed — the original or the diluted one approved by EC. Either way, we are opposed to this.” VC, Mr. Tyagi, was not available for a comment on the same.

Feature Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat

Sakshi Arora

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SOL to Have an Online Module for its Students

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The School of Open Learning (SOL), Delhi University (DU) is all set to introduce its online teaching programme to aid students from 1st November.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has requested SOL  to upload Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) for B.A. Programme, B.Com (Honours), B.Com Programme and B.A English (Honours) for the first semester.

This comes after the Governing Body made this decision in a prior meeting. The faculty of DU had been requested to submit the proposal for the same. It was earlier approved by the Executive Council of DU.

The motion of online courses was put forward by 22 universities, but UGC gave consent to only four which includes DU.

A “four-quadrant approach” has been suggested under UGC guidelines. This includes video and audio tutorials, open access web content, self-assessment techniques like MCQs, among others. Availability of reading material, in the form of e-books or PDFs, has also been suggested.

The University website provided instructions on making these modules on Tuesday, abiding with the guidelines which state to incorporate video lectures, classroom presentations, small movies, documentaries, fieldwork, virtual experimental learning, gaming, and short question and answers.

It also states that these must be in accordance with the government’s SWAYAM guidelines.

“We have developed a special system, which includes live streaming of lectures. Our teachers have already developed the lectures. We have also hired special tutors and interns,” said Mr CS Dubey, Director of SOL, as reported by Jagran Josh.

SOL is also planning to partially conduct its examination online. The institution had applied for approval to offer online courses in January this year, after the UGC Gazette Notification dated 4th July 2018, prescribing the regulations that shall apply to a university conducting open learning classes.

 

Feature Image credits: College Duniya

 

 Stephen Mathew

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DU to Revamp Evaluation Procedure

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University Grants Commission (UGC) has initiated its new evaluation set-up of continuous assessment, incorporating poster making, quizzes, essays and much more as a part of the curriculum. Thereby, restructuring a 7:3 assessment pattern.

 

UGC has initiated its latest step towards the evaluation and assessment of students, introducing poster making, quizzes and essays, giving respite to the paper-pen system of evaluation.

The committee that recommended the analysis reforms was headed by Professor M.M. Salunkhe, President, Affiliation of Indian Universities (AIU), with an objective of inculcating continuous assessment- making paper displays, participating in group discussions and writing unit exams for every chapter in addition to the year-end examination. In keeping with the proposed analysis methodology, 70 per cent weightage will likely be given to formative evaluation while summative evaluation, which was thus far 100 per cent of the analysis, will now be restricted to 30 per cent.

“The idea of moving towards a continuous evaluation method is a move away from rote learning and to make learning interesting for students,” said UGC Vice Chairman Bhushan Patwardhan. He further added, “The new evaluation scheme has been formulated by a committee of experts appointed by the commission and will soon be made official by the HRD minister.”

However, apprehensions lurk around the latest move. Rajesh Jha, a Delhi University College instructor told LiiStudio, “One has to see the size of our classrooms; there are 60 students in one class, how are we going to have the ability to do inside evaluation with issues like group discussions and poster making with them?” He added, “What are we going to teach the students anyway by poster-making? If the government wants a curriculum that makes students more creative and develops their critical ability, they should assess this scheme properly before implementation,”. Satviki Sanjay, a student of Miranda House put forth her views on the continual analysis initiative- “Poster making and quizzes seem like a waste of time. I would like the syllabus and the teaching to be more practical and application-oriented, for which I think essays and, to an extent, presentations are great, but a replica of the CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) system in college is impractical. While I agree, there should be some continuous evaluation because we only study for exams, I am not sure how practical and how well implemented this system would be.”

With private universities such as the Azim Premji University and Ashoka University already abiding by the continuous evaluation process, results of implementation of a similar process on DU colleges are awaited.

Feature Image Credits: The Print

Priyanshi Banerjee

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