The University of Delhi (DU) is revising the curriculum of all the undergraduate programmes to be aligned with the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) learning-outcome based framework (UGC-LOCF). The new curriculum will be implemented from academic session 2019-20 onwards. Delhi University (DU) has asked the heads of 11 departments and a college to initiate this process. The university’s undergraduate curriculum revision committee (2019) last week wrote an email to the heads of 12 departments, including computer science, history, botany, music, zoology, Sanskrit, microbiology and environmental studies, and the administration of Indraprastha College for Women, with a revision schedule and asked them to “abide by it”.
The process of revision of undergraduate courses began on March 11, 2019 by inviting all deans and heads for a detailed consultative meeting, according to the varsity. A consensus emerged on the need to revise the curriculum and participation of students in the curriculum revision process has also been ensured, an official statement from DU added. According to the schedule, each department will have to constitute their own committees and prepare a first draft of the revised curriculum
The ‘Under Graduate Curriculum Revision Committee’ has developed a dashboard to facilitate the process. The dashboard has been developed to enable concerned teachers to work collectively and to share their inputs simultaneously.
The revision schedule explicitly states different stages of involvement and approval of the revised curriculum from different statutory bodies of the University of Delhi. The entire curriculum will be displayed on the university website to invite feedback from all stakeholders including alumni, teachers, parents and academia.
The varsity in an official statement said, revised courses will benefit close to 7 lakh undergraduate students who will be seeking admission in 2019; NCWEB, SOL and regular college students.
According to DU, the revised curriculum will be expressed in terms of outcomes related to knowledge, understanding, skill, attitudes and values. It is aimed to foster quality higher education in academic research, contributing to society, states the varsity.
On the contrary the move has invited criticism from a section of the faculty, who termed it a “serious statutory violation”. Members of the university’s executive council (EC) and academic council (AC) wrote to vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, objecting to the “manner of revising the curriculum”. The EC and AC members have requested the VC to withdraw the communication. “The schedule was prepared without any consultation with the statutory bodies. So, we request you to revise the UG syllabi in a statutory and democratic manner and withdraw all the communications concerned,” the letter states.
Despite several attempts, vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi did not respond to calls and messages for a comment.
Meanwhile, DU admissions are expected to start early this year. The university’s Admission Committee in its meeting also decided to reduce the “deduction of marks from five per cent to two per cent for the change of stream”. As of now, if a student from a science stream, for example, wants to get enrolled in an arts course, their marks are reduced by five per cent as the penalty.~ Preksha Mishra
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