Forms and Reforms . . .

Every year, lakhs of students aspire to get admission in the much coveted Delhi university, popularly known as DU.

This year, Delhi University’s latest attempt at revolutionary reforms, Four-year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), has gripped the “guinea pig” experimental batch in constant fear.

Owing to these reforms that the university is planning this year onwards, for the batch that’s always been the harbinger of reforms and the “gold” on which all acid tests are done, the brouhaha over its pros and cons was only obvious. Considering that it can even prove career-altering for many, it’s justifiable too. Perhaps, that is why Open days never got more popular

FYUP encompasses a wide range of reforms, the most debatable of them being discussed below, but not without elucidating the noble intentions behind each of it.

1)      Exit Options

To put the exit options simply, if you choose to exit after 2 years, you get a diploma, after three years, you get a Bachelor degree, but to get an Honours degree, you would need to research your way through the fourth year.

The noble intention, here, is that you can return to your studies within a period of ten years and resume where you left it.(given that the structure does not undergo further reforms in these years). Plus, if you are academically inclined, you can complete the FYUP and continue your masters to complete it in just 1 year. The total period of studying till post-graduation, either way, remains 5 years.

2)      Foundation courses

Well, the foundation courses, DU claims, “would encourage appreciation and learning of academic tools that explore (some of these) problems and point towards some solutions.”

So, apart from the regular dose of English language and creativity and other languages, curriculum would include geography, history, political science, mathematics, science, environmental studies, the same subjects we learnt in school. Only now there names are changed- Geographic and Socio-Economic Diversity, Indian History and Culture Governance and Citizenship,  Building Mathematical Ability,  Science and Life, Environment and Public Health.

The good thing is, these courses are holistic in nature and comprehensive in curricula, so we have an opportunity to recall, revise the old topics or learn new ones as well. Going by the syllabus uploaded on Delhi University’s website, these subjects entail loads of projects, which CCE has well prepared us for.

3)      Interdisciplinary approach and trans-disciplinary approach

A B.Tech in Humanities is the latest oxymoron. So a person from science background will be found cracking stock market figures, and a humanities student will be revisiting the concepts of electric resistance, that s/he left back in school in the hope of never having to confront it again, and a commerce student will be found juggling between the ancient culture of India and psychology behind emotions.

But, of course it would be great fun to explore something different from our territories. And, we will not get bored by the same things, again and again.

Many of the class 12 graduates I have talked to, are opting out of courses such as B.com or Eco(hons) et al, to get into BMS, CA, CS. The reason they give is quite simple: with a professional degree in hand, they will know the answer to "What's next?", unlike the lack of knowlegde about where they'd end up after these ambiguous couses. They are not wrong also, it is only fair on their part to demand assurance and security about a good career ahead...