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Teachers anxious over restructured 4-year course

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Delhi University does it again. From delay in examination results to admissions, they have now failed to restructure the to-be introduced 4-year undergraduate programme within time. Sources at DU reveal that a select group of teachers from each department had been asked to prepare the curriculum for the new course, which was to be submitted to the Vice Chancellor by the 11th of March, or as some sources say the 20th. Either way the deadline has been overshot by most departments, and with just 3 months left for the university to start enrolling students, this delay has received much flak.

The teachers have criticized the proposed reforms citing issues like shoddy infrastructure, undemocratic representation of college teachers in syllabus making, hasty and unplanned manner of increasing student workload. As a result many senior teachers have been kept in the dark and have been asked to only work on the design and their opinion has definitely not been taken into consideration as to how and why a 3 year honours programme can be diluted and converted into a 4 year course. According to a senior teacher from Miranda House, ‘DU is still trying to cope up with the changes made with the introduction of the semester system. Asking us to convert the syllabus of a rigorous 3 years honours programme, into one of 4 years that too within 15 days is something close to impossible’.

The deadline is yet to be met, and many teachers have actually opted out of the process while questioning the validity of the entire idea.

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Campus Central

Merger Of BFIA, BBE And BBS

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University of Delhi has planned on merging three courses, BFIA (Bachelor of Finance and Investment Analysis), BBE (Bachelor of Business Economics) and BBS (Bachelor of Business Studies), amidst much protest from the students of the three courses. The plan is to create a course that can be pursued as a four-year undergraduate degree.

Incidentally, the four-year undergraduate plan is already protested against by students and teachers alike. The three courses might collectively be called Bachelor of Business and Management. Total intake of the three courses is 891 divided as: BBE (554), BBS (274) and BFIA (62), and the number of seats will remain the same.

Cause of the merger, as the University has stated, is that all three courses have similar curriculum. However, the only similarity is the entrance test that is common for the courses. Also, 10 to 11 papers are unique to the courses. BFIA is a financial course, BBE is an economics-based course and BBS is a management-based one. New selection process is not likely to have GD/PIs. Foreign universities only have a roster for the current courses being offered, that is, BFIA, BBE and BBS.

Devika Chaddha, a student of SSCBS, pursuing BBS, feels that the current students of these three courses would face an “identity crisis” during placements, as the validity of the courses would be questioned. Students don’t mind a new, generalised course to be introduced, but not at the cost of BFIA, BBE and BBS. Some students don’t mind the increment of the duration by one year, as it will reduce the pressure to an extent. Instead of the merger, students are asking for enrichment of the courses by introducing new papers to the courses.

The students of these individual courses are provided with an edge over others because there is specialization at the undergraduate level, which lands them jobs, right after their graduation. A protest was held by students on Sunday, 24th March, 2013 at the Central Park to show their displeasure towards the decision.

No final decision has been taken yet, but is likely to be taken as soon as the admission process begins in the first week of April.

 

Shreya Mudgil
[email protected]

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Campus Central

Sigh of Relief for Unmukt

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Latest cricket sensation Unmukt Chand, captain of the Under-19 Indian cricket team, might have garnered heaps of appreciation for his striking innings in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, but barely had he the slightest of idea that it would also trigger off a countrywide debate.

Apart from being an incredible cricket player, Chand is also a student of B.A. (Programme) in St. Stephen’s College. However, his association with the college has been rather hostile. Earlier this year, following the denial by the college authorities to issue him the admit card for final exams on the grounds of inadequate attendance, he decided to approach the High Court and filed a petition in May stating that since he had got admission under the sports category, a certain relaxation in attendance criteria should be given. Although, with the involvement of the court Unmukt was able to seek permission to appear for exams; he didn’t approach the court on time and consequently could appear in only two exams out of four thus failing to clear the same.

However, in what appeared to be a favourable turn of events for this talented youngster well-known sports personalities decided to pour in support and speak in the matter. From the former national-level cricket player Kirti Azad, also a Stephanian, to current captain of the Indian national cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni, lot of people raised questions about the harsh treatment meted out to Unmukt. The Principal on his part was caught in a no win situation as he would receive flak both for abiding by the rules and subverting them.

Apparently, Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal and sports minister Ajay Maken also stepped in and spoke to the Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh who assured them to resolve the matter on priority basis. While responding to the letter written by Maken in this regard, VC said that they have asked the St Stephen’s College Principal to forward them all the necessary papers so that they could help Chand, who led India to U-19 World Cup win.

In his letter to the VC, Maken wrote, “You would agree that fostering and development of a vibrant sports culture in the country which would ultimately lead to our better performances at the international arena is hurt precisely because of such systemic bottlenecks that only discourage young people from taking up sports but also stifles their career mid-way.”

Finally, after much hullaballoo, with the intervention of the Vice Chancellor, Unmukt Chand has been promoted to second year at his college but he will have to simultaneously clear his first year exams as well.

Moreover, Dinesh Singh also indicated that under the proposed structure — that is expected to be placed before the Academic Council in a couple of months — participation in sports activities will be accorded credit towards regular Daily Programmes and the students will have the choice of replacing some of the academic courses with a structured recognition of participation towards his/her degree.

 

Vatsal Verma
[email protected] 

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Juxtapose

Can World Cup Buy a Promotion?

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An exuberant Indian under 19 cricket team recently conquered the World Cup under the leadership of Unmukt Chand but the debate that followed did not centre on Unmukt’s potential as a cricketer. Instead it was the controversy regarding his promotion (orinitially detainment) in college that monopolized the media space.

But surely Unmukt deserves a little leniency after having made the nation proud in such emphatic fashion. Add to that the rigours of cricket practise and one can understand his predicament. On the other hand, the very object of exams is to gauge the progress made by students in their chosen field of study and Unmukt has equivocally made none. Is it then not fair that he be made to repeat the semester?

This week Juxtapose poses the simple question whether a world cup can buy a promotion?

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Campus Central

DU Playing Fair?

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At Hindu College

 

Admissions are probably the most chaotic time of the year for DU, well maybe they’ve taken a back-seat to the ever-controversial semester system, but they remain a prominently harrowing process nevertheless. With the fake-caste certificate scam and the Ramjas admission racket, the quota entry into DU is eyed with much suspicion. The sports quota is perhaps no exception.

However this year, the sports quota admissions at Delhi University apart from being decentralized, were also based on equal weightage for a candidate’s certificates and trial performance, unlike last year’s 75-25 ratio, which people tried to exploit through fake National and Zonal certificates.

“When there was no marking system, there was a possibility of manipulating the coach or team to get in. Even last year, students manipulated the marking system by getting fake certificates to satisfy the 75% weightage given to certificates. But this year, with the 50-50 weightage given to certificates and field trial, there is complete transparency. A lot of colleges, including ours, are videotaping the trials to be able to address any grievances later.” said Mr. Narendra Gaur, HOD Physical Education, Sri Venkateswara College.

As per the fresh guidelines notified by DU, the trials were conducted by a panel of representatives from the University Sports Council and an observer from the University Vice-Chancellor’s office. A physical fitness test preceded the trials and only shortlisted candidates are allowed to compete.

“Last year’s centralized sports trials caused a lot of hue and cry. But the system this year was very transparent. There was a check on colleges as the Sports Quota Admission Committee of each college was headed by the principal and also included sports experts from a confidential university-approved list. There was absolutely no possibility of any nexus between a student and the experts.” said Dr. Meera Sood, Secretary of Delhi University Sports Council (DUSC) about Sports Quota admissions this year.

Having changed the Sports Quota admission process two years in a row, DU seems determined to rule out any possibility of foul-play when it comes to quotas. “A few years back it was possible to get in through sports quota if you knew someone on the team, as the coach along with the team would take the trials. Obviously we never take bad players, since we have to play with them as a team, but it was a possibility all the same, and has perhaps even happened before. But with the new system, there’s no such chance, because the trials are supervised by experts from SAI (Sports Authority of India)”, said two members of the Hansraj and Hindu basketball teams.

 

Garima Verma
[email protected]

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