Delhi University To Introduce 30 New Courses, Increases 282 Seats; Demands 3,000 More Teachers

The academic council of the University of Delhi (DU) has given its nod to 30 new courses to be introduced across colleges in the varsity. The courses include both undergraduate and postgraduate level programmes which will be imparted in a choice-based credit system (CBCS) from the coming academic year 2019-20 onwards. Moreover, 10 vocational courses will also be launched which will impart part-time certificates to students.

In addition to the new courses, the council meeting has also approved a proposal by several colleges to increase the number of seats in their ongoing courses. A total of 282 seats have been added across colleges in the Delhi University which will be open to enrolment from the coming admission cycle.

Out of which, 80 new seats have been added to the BA programme at Hans Raj College which makes it now 100 seats. In Aditi Mahavidyalaya, the seats in B.Com programme have been increased from 55 to 80 and seats in B.Com (hons) in the same college have been extended from 45 to 92. Additionally, 50 seats will be offered under Maharishi Valmiki College.

A three-member committee appointed by the DU has also given green signal to the demand of Florence Nightingale College of Nursing to be affiliated to the university and introduce a course of B.Sc nursing (honours) through DU. However, this request is subjected to the appointment of faculty, acceptance and abiding of syllabus and norms of the varsity, according to the academic council (AC).

“The requests by the colleges to start new courses have been granted. A total of 40 courses were proposed out of which 30 have been passed. They will be introduced in the new academic year. The courses were approved by the standing committee which passed it on to the AC,” informed Hans Raj, professor, Sri Aurobindo College and member of the academic council.

Implementation of the new courses and expansion of seats combined may add up to as much as 25 per cent total new seats for students from this year onwards. According to Hans Raj, this might prove to be additional pressure on the funds and staff of the varsity. Hence, he has also written to the University Grants Commission (UGC), Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, and the vice chancellor of DU seeking additional grants for the new courses.

“Generally when new courses are introduced, colleges ask the teachers working with the departments to take the additional responsibility and for specialised lectures, guest faculty is invited. With the introduction of so many courses and the 10 per cent reservation coming into the picture, we will be expanding as many as 25 per cent seats. This will be an additional burden on the faculty and administration. We would need 3000 more teachers to join the university,” Hans Raj informed indianexpress.com.

The approval is subjected to the condition that the college must appoint full-time faculty for the academic session 2019-20 and ensure availability of infrastructure, states the AC in an official release. The admission to M.Ed programme will be done through the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

The committee has also recommended introducing MD course in Dravyaguna (ayurvedic pharmacology) and Panchkarma in Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College in which five and three seats will be added per year respectively. But the final nod will be given only after approval from the regulatory authority.

The council has approved to add courses including physical education as a discipline course in BA programme at Lakshmi Bai College and Vivekanand College and Computer science as a discipline of BA programme at Lakshmi bai college from next academic year onwards.

The number of seats denoted in front of each course is the maximum limit and can be reduced as deemed fit by the respective institutes.

(Source: IndianExpress Education)