- By Sakshi Gupta
- Fri, 01 Dec 2023 01:14 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Delhi University: The proposal by Delhi University to establish a twinning degree system with overseas universities was postponed due to opposition from numerous elected teachers on the Academic Council. Additionally, the proposal to allow students to complete 40% of their semester courses online was also shelved. Despite the dissent of fifteen members, the dual degree program was approved, allowing students to pursue one full-time and one remote learning course.
Vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh led the meeting, which also eliminated the additional guidelines for assistant, associate, and professor promotions. Instead, they agreed to abide by the University Grant Commission's 2018 guidelines in this regard.
As part of the twinning program, students could enrol in any course offered by DU or any of its constituent institutions. They could also spend a semester studying abroad and get credit from the host university, which would count toward the required number of credits needed to be awarded a DU degree.
AC member Mithuraaj Dhusiya said, "After we strongly protested against the twinning degree programme, the university was forced to take back the proposal. They admitted that homework needed to be done on this issue before it could be placed in the AC for discussion."
The opponents of the dual degree approval plan expressed concern that it would "dilution the academic process, making academics more about a mere collection of paper degrees than a rigorous exercise in learning and critical thinking."
The promotion guidelines were also covered, with particular attention to the requirement that a candidate for promotion from assistant to associate professor have at least four publications during the evaluation period, two of which must have been published in journals with a Scopus index.
AC member Megh Raj said, “All of a sudden, the university changed the rules in violation of UGC regulation. UGC says the candidate should have published one research publication in peer-reviewed journals or UGC-listed journals.”
The VC reported to the gathering that 3,441 new appointments and 6,115 promotions had been made in the university and colleges thus far. The desire of DU to permit students to take 40% of their semester's courses online was likewise met with strong criticism.
AC member Maya John reported, “It was decided to postpone the issue of MOOCs and online courses. Several technicalities still have to be addressed. The AC will be reconvened on the agenda item Strategic Plan 2022-47 as members did not want a rushed discussion on long-term planning.”
68,583 undergraduate admissions, 11,196 postgraduate admissions, and 784 PhD admissions were made in the 2023–24 academic year, according to Singh, who made this announcement during the AC meeting. For the academic year 2022–2023, 1,009 students received financial support for Rs 1,00,61,057, while 98 orphan students received a complete fee waiver.
