With the countdown to admissions for its new four-year undergraduate programme getting closer, around 81 stakeholders of the university consisting of Deans, Principals, Academic and Executive Council members sought to dispel the negative perceptions surrounding the course on Sunday. They declared that they were fully prepared to meet the new challenges and also stated that those who were opposed to the course either had questionable intentions or were ill informed.
“I have been associated with Delhi University since the 1950s and have seen the best of the university, but we have to update ourselves… the university is also run as a democratic institution… the Academic and Executive Council are scared here and a few gentlemen will not be able to hijack the implementation of the course,” said Prof. K. R. Sharma, political science teacher and former dean.
Questions that were posed by genuine students on open days on the four-year course were again put forth to the panel.
Several students wanted to know why they would have to waste a fourth year for an honours degree which would take them three years in any other college. The fourth year was supposed to be focussed on research and that was why it was superior to other normal three-year courses was the reply. “Compare a three wheeler vehicle to a four wheeler, all the functions are the same… but is it really the same?” said one professor from the department of Anthropology. There were also discussions on the goodness of the foundation course which was viewed with scepticism by many students during the open days.
A statement signed by 81 of these academics was circulated.
