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One year on, NSUI now joins the protest against FYUP

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nsui camp Congress’ student wing – N.S.U.I. musters support against F.Y.U.P. by means of signature campaign at North Campus, D.U.[/caption] Sunny Kumar, State Secretary for Delhi, AISA in response to the same question, said that “It is high time the focus shifts to students’ issues from muscle-and-money politics.  Therefore it’s not just the question of NSUI – every party has to raise students’ issues to survive. NSUI has now realized that the rage against F.Y.U.P. is not something they can tame and hence they oppose it now.” Calling ABVP, a passive opposition, Kumar said that any action against FYUP by the central government cannot imply that the party has done any ‘concrete work in the same direction’. In their defense, Amrish Ranjan Pandey, NSUI national spokesperson, told IANS that, “It was something new  last year, so we neither supported nor protested against the structure, but now after a year, we conducted a survey and have found that it is not good academically and students are not happy with it”. Nonetheless, the coming together of all the parties is a clear sign that the students and teachers of DU unanimously agree that FYUP is not something they want and should indeed be rolled back.      ]]>

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Campus Central

ABVP passes special resolution against FYUP in National Executive Meet

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After the triumphant victory of its principle party in the national elections, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad is set to move to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and seek a rollback of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme, introduced during UPA-2’s term.

The issue was also tabled at ABVP’s recently concluded National Executive Meet in Mangalore (26th-29th May), in which a special resolution was passed to express complete dissatisfaction over the implementation of FYUP. In an exclusive interview to DU Beat, Saket Bahuguna, ABVP’s State Secretary for Delhi, said, “For the past 5 months we have been taking delegations to various BJP leaders and expressing our worries for the University. Now that BJP is in power in the centre, a delegation will meet Minister of HRD, Ms. Smriti Irani, as soon as senior ABVP Delhi leaders return from the National Executive Meet. It is a matter of great urgency as the University plans to begin the process of admission from the 2nd of June, thus we passed a special resolution in the meet.” The Leader went on to challenge the FYUP on grounds of proper approval from the appropriate authorities. He also said that the programme is in contrast with the National Policy of Education, which recommends the 10+2+3 system. BJP’s student wing also cited arising problems in the University’s School of Open Learning (SOL). The institute will not be able to award honours degrees henceforth, courtesy of UGC’s new ruling which prohibits a University from awarding the same degree in 2 different ways.]]>

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Admissions 2014

Students advised to choose course over college at fourth open day

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On Saturday, 24th May 2014, Open day organized by the Dean of Student’s Welfare Association was held at SP Jain Centre in South Campus. The auditorium was jam-packed with aspiring students, parents and members of the organizing committee, twenty minutes before the program actually started. Dr. Dinesh Varshney , Deputy Dean- Student’s Welfare, South Campus, commenced the interaction session by introducing the student volunteers and the speakers.

The student volunteers gave a presentation introducing the University, courses offered, admission criterion and eligibility. The presentation also highlighted the schedule of admission, admission information centres, documents required at the time of admission, reservations, hostel facilities and entrance tests.

Following the presentation, Dr Minoti Chatterjee, Principal of Kamala Nehru College, addressed the gathering. She advised “Students should look at all the college websites, read the prospectus of various colleges, visit the college campus if time allows, choose a college which is nearby their residence and choose the course rather than the college”. She also talked about the exit points of the FYUP.

Prof.  Avinashi Kapoor (Joint Dean Students Welfare) greeted the turnout. He said “Our education system doesn’t stimulate all 500 neurons; there is still lot to be done with the system. It is a misnomer that FYUP is very different from what other universities of India provide. In fact, it is something in addition.”

After Prof. Kapoor’s talk, Dr. Gyantosh Jha (Principal, ARSD College), Dr. Ajay Arora (Principal, Deshbandhu College) and Dr. Purabi  Saikia (Principal, Bhagini Nivedita College) addressed the mass. They discussed FYUP, the Discipline Courses, the advantages of major and minor subjects under FYUP, facilities provided by the University.

The first session ended with the doubt clearing round, where Dr. Gulshan Sahani answered queries of the students and parents, followed by the second and third session. “The session was informative, almost all our queries are solved. The only thing I could say is that it should have been  more elaborate discussion on the course content rather than focusing on the university” says Kanika Kalra, a student aspirant.

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Campus Central

RTI reveals Budget Head for FYUP laptops as 'OBC Grant for colleges'

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Joint Secretary Raju Rawat and DU teacher Amitav Chakraborty in March this year, the Four Year Undergraduate Program once again came under the scrutiny of the media and organisations like DUTA. The RTI consisted of 7 points including questions regarding the exact number of laptops purchased to be distributed to the FYUP students, the name of the tender finalised for the purchases, and the Budget Head under which the funds for the laptops were taken from. A copy of the RTI can be seen here. The response to the RTI (which can be viewed here) stated that the 62,600 laptops (60,000 for students, 1350 for students of EOC and 1250 for teachers) had been purchased under the Budget Head ‘OBC Grant for University Departments’ and ‘OBC Grants for colleges’. With each laptop costing Rs. 27,565.50 under the MRP, that amounts to a total of Rs. 1,72,56,00,300. The University has since then received flack for apparent misappropriation of funds in order to propagate the FYUP. In a Press Release and letters written to various media houses and newspapers, DU Registrar Alka Sharma pointed out that the OBC Expansion Grant, as declared in 2008, had been allotted for infrastructural facilities, non salary expenditures, IT infrastructure and equipment, and hence the purchase of laptops under it can be termed as ‘legitimate activity’. PRDU Organisations like the Democratic Teacher’s Front and DUTA, have however, have issues statements saying that the allocation of funds from the OBC Grant towards the FYUP laptops still counts as ‘diversion’, because the infrastructural facilities it was meant to be used for “construction of IT-enabled large-sized classrooms, extra Science laboratories and lab equipment, Computer Labs, furniture and faculty rooms”, which the University did not follow, especially last year, which led to infrastructure related problems for the FYUP students.]]>

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DUB Speak

The FYUP- One year on

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Ours has been popularly called the batch of guinea pigs, and rightly so.

For those who aren’t aware, let me bring you up to speed with some ‘radical reforms’ that my batch has been subjected to: the scrapping of class 10 board examinations, the almost sudden shift to the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system and most recently, the change from a 3 to a 4 year undergraduate programme.

So here I am, after years of being poked and prodded by the education system, taking a moment to really think about how the first of four years in college treated me. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a tirade of how we all have been wronged (maybe it will, we’ll see how this goes).

Let’s start off with us all agreeing that in theory, the idea of a FYUP isn’t so bad, keeping aside the issue of having to finance an extra year. The problem, as many of us have realised, lies in the hurried implementation and faulty execution of the programme and not in the actual rationale behind it. What I’m trying to say is, it just doesn’t seem thought through.

Before the beginning of the session, DU Beat came up with two separate and comprehensive lists on the FYUP; on what might and might not work. The most disappointing part is that while the apprehensions still persist, none of the possible positives have made themselves obvious (other than one extra year of being the senior-most batch, yayy).

Two semesters in, I can’t help but wonder how different and positive the situation would have been, had the syllabi for the Foundation Courses been actually relevant, and not so pedestrian. However, things have gotten better from the first semester to the second. Semester one was a mess. The students were confused, the teachers were unsure, college authorities were uncertain, the semester passed in a haze of presentations, cancelled foundation course classes, and suspiciously bloated results. The second semester has been tidier. Some may even say we have resigned to our fate by handing in all submissions, well, submissively.

On the one hand, some of the major highlights of the new system like the DC II and multiple exit options are yet to be tried out, and on the other, BJP and AAP have promised to rollback the FYUP in their manifestos. With ambiguous promises such as these, the fate of the current FYUP batch, the guinea pig batch, remains uncertain.

 

 

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DUB Speak

4 things not to do while you plan to ace this semester

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After years and years of planning to start studying well before the exams and failing to do so, cramming at the last hour, and sometimes miraculously scraping through, we’ve all developed our own ‘fundas’ of preparing for examinations. While we all have unique ways of studying that work for us, there are a few ways that usually don’t. Here is a list you should try not to follow if you want to ace this semester:

1.Decide to get organized

This might seem like a good idea, but tidying up your cupboard/ room/ local river in the week before your exams isn’t likely to unclutter your mind, and arranging all your books and notes in neat stacks won’t boost your grades. If you haven’t been organized all through the semester, trying to do it now will only distract you, tire you and waste precious time.

Best case scenario: You now live in more habitable surroundings.

Worst case scenario: You discover an old photo album (let the reminiscing commence).

 
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2.Multi task

You may think that playing Flappy bird and upholding a conversation at the same time makes you a master multi-tasker, but rarely does this skill convert well in terms of actual studying. To be able to really grasp what you’re reading, you need all your concentration and more, especially when there’s only a little time left to cover a lot of syllabus. For some students, studying two subjects alternatively without a sufficient gap works wonderfully, but for most of us, this just muddles things up entirely. Stick to one subject at a time and make sure you don’t move on to something entirely different till you’ve given your mind enough time to soak in what you’ve just studied.

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3.Pull regular all nighters

Sure this works for all people on some nights and for some people on many nights, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that completely disrupting your sleep cycle will lead to any major leap in your scores. If you aren’t typically a creature of the night, then turning nocturnal right before exams is a very bad idea. Staying up all night to study generally leads to increased consumption of caffeine and decreased concentration. Your ability to memorize and recall what you’ve just learnt falls and your mind tires more quickly.

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4.Try to study online

 Because no one really knows how those online notes usually turn into Facebook. And after chatting or aimlessly hitting the news feed button you end up wasting not less than 3-4 hours from your rigorous schedule of last minute studies. So better beware of falling into this trap and stick to the old school method of reading from your books.
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News

DU colleges begin allotment of DC-II courses under the FYUP

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With the current academic session close to its end, there will be introduction of Discipline Courses-II (DC-II), under the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). The FYUP students have to choose a total of six minor subjects, called DC-II, along with the main subjects in their third semester. The university has asked the colleges to independently figure out this entire process. So the procedure differs from college to college.

Colleges all over the University are occupied in resolving this process. Surveys have been conducted in colleges like Hindu College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Gargi College and Miranda House. St. Stephen’s College held an orientation program which summarized the courses and their structure.

In Lady Shri Ram College for Women, the authorities haven’t come to a conclusion yet. Students were asked to fill forms in which they were asked for their preferences and then top 3 preferences were shortlisted for each department. Eventually the subject with the highest demand will be adopted. However, there’s no such attempt to sort the process out in College of Vocational Studies.

The allotment of the Discipline 2 courses in Miranda House has been done. The online survey conducted by the college for each course asking the students for their first five preferences has been announced as the final one.  The students have been e-mailed a form which they will have to fill and sign, indicating their choice of DC 2. The application will be counter signed by the Teacher-in-charge of the respective department. The students are required to fill the application and get it signed during 21st April to 23rd April.

Students were initially allotted date and time to clear their doubts regarding the course, scoring patterns, syllabus and career options of the subject which has helped them make up their minds regarding which subject to choose.

“This entire process was very confusing but the way everything from the doubt clearing sessions to the online form survey, was well articulated.” said Divya Singh, a FYUP student of Miranda House.

In Jesus and Mary College, students were asked to fill their preferences online. So far, there has not been introduction of any merit based allotments. “For BMS students, DU had designed 6 DC IIs which only we could take and nobody else. They were marketing, finance, global business, HR, services and tourism. But recently we got to know that students from other courses can also take it, thus, taking away the exclusivity from our course” said a BMS student of Deen Dayal Upadhyay College.

Dr. Geeta Kitchlu, a Senior Professor of Gargi College said, “Students were given a Performa and were asked to tick their top 3 preferences. These forms have been forwarded to various Teachers-in-charge and the workload committee is active on the process of compiling the data. Students will study either six papers of the same subject or 3-3 papers of tow subjects depending upon their choices. Decision regarding number of sections to be made will be taken according to the number of students opting for a particular subject”

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Campus Central

DUTA presents 'List of demands' to political parties contesting in the Lok Sabha elections

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Delhi University Teachers Union (DUTA) and other prestigious research and teaching communities of Universities across Delhi have created a list of “Demands” which they feel are urgently required to be met.This jointly prepared formal agenda has been prepared so that various political parties contesting for the Lok Sabha elections, understand the shortcomings of the current education system in the country and act upon it immediately.

The 3 page formal agenda describes key demands like democratising the education system (giving a voice to all stakeholders like teachers, students professionals) rather than limiting the decision making bodies like the AC, EC and Staff Council within a small group of people who are generally not from an academic background, a public expenditure of 6% of the GDP for Public Education as was suggested by the Kothari Commission in 1964, reduction of bureaucratisation and privatization of education.

The agenda also reiterates DUTA’s struggles against FYUP and states how large scale academic restructuring like Delhi University’s  Four Year Undergraduate Programme which was introduced hastily without honouring democratic procedures has the potential to cause more harm than good.

The weak leadership provided by the VC, Principals and Directors whose appointments are influenced by political and money power have also been criticised in the agenda as an inhibitor to quality education.

Some key points of the list of demands include:

a) States should not abdicate their responsibility to the people and concentrate more on public education.

b) The immediate implementation of the recommendation of  247th Joint Parliamentary Committee of MHRD which incites that the ‘paradigm of efficient governance’ be changed to the ‘paradigm of democratisation’ of decision making process of all stakeholders.

c) Minimisation of the role of MHRD, State Bureaucracy and UGC in the functioning of higher education.

d) Contractualisation should be discontinued, and the lack of posts lying vacant should immediately be filled.

e) The recent Debilitating experiments in DU be halted.

 On speaking to Abha Dev Habib, a DUTA representative about the possibility of DUTA meeting with members of political parties, she said that the organisation had done so on the 18th of February, earlier this year, when a large number of MPs joined the protest against the FYUP led by students and teachers. She also spoke about DUTA’s plans to address the new government that will be formed post the upcoming elections.]]>

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News

DUTA conducts Jashn-e-Azadi against university authorities

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Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) conducted their cultural protest, Jashn-e-Azadi, on 27th March in front of the Kirori Mal College hostel gate against the rising instances of ‘totalitarian misgovernance’ by the University authorities. The stage was opened by a speech by DUTA president, Nandita Narain, who called out the authorities on the recent passage of the code of conduct which, she said, is meant to crush any dissenting voice in the university. She also pointed out the one-year MA course will only lead to further degradation of the academic standards of the university, which is already reeling under the affects of Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). Other points of concerns were FYUP itself, the second term of office of the VC and immediate filling of vacant posts in the faculty.

Artists followed her speech with their own forms of protests on stage. While former Indian Ocean member Sushmit Sen performed with his band, Sushmit Sen Chronicles, belling out one fusion number after another, folk artist Ratan Gambhir talked about the increasing commercialisation of education. Narain brought the evening to an end by again calling out for the urgent need to group and protest against the increasingly draconian nature of the university governance. She said that culture is one of the sharpest ways of protest and Jashn-e-Azadi was only one in a line of similar events, pointing to the cricket match which was played after the protest march on 14th February. She ended by saying, “Jab jab andhakar ka samay ayega, tab tab hum andhakar key bare mein bolengein, gaayengein”.

Featured Image Credit: Iresh Gupta for DU Beat

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DU introduces awards for Foundation Course teachers

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Delhi University authorities under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh are leaving no stone unturned to make the much criticised Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) gain acceptance among teachers. As a result, DU has introduced “Teaching Excellence Awards” so as to accolade teachers who have persistently worked to make Foundation Courses more interactive and interesting.

Teaching Excellence Awards shall be given to three teachers in each Foundation Course.  The award will comprise a fully funded study tour to one of Delhi University’s partner universities abroad (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, King’s College, London, Open University, UK, universities in Norway, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand) for a period of approximately 10 days.  The aim is to make teachers learn the good practices of these universities and further implement them at University of Delhi for teaching Foundation Courses and bring DU at par with international standards.

The award is based on multiple assessment aspects including class preparation, knowledge domain, communication skills, rapport with students, mentorship of projects, technology skills, evaluation methods and student feedback.

Teachers require to file their nominations with a 10-minute video recording of them teaching, evaluation and teaching methods used, five citations of student feedback and recommendation from one referee. These elements with other documentation need to be submitted by 30th April, 2014.

The application forms will be examined to ensure information provided by the applicant stands true. Subsequently all the eligible applications will be judged by a committee founded by the Vice Chancellor.

“This is exciting. Finally the hard work we have put in to make students understand the topic is being recognised. FYUP is a more interactive platform where we need to constantly communicate with the students through presentations, games and case studies” expressed one of the teachers from Daulat Ram College.

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