Apparently the honorable MPs raised the issue of four year undergraduate program in the Parliament. Smriti Irani has responded by saying that UGC has issued notice to IISc regarding its four year undergraduate program. I read about it in Abi's blog Nanopolitan. I suppose we should have anticipated this but... After all we are great believer's in one size fits all. The IISc program is quite different from DU FYUP though the problem remains what do these students do after 4 years of B.S program. I guess most of them will end up going abroad.
The DU FYUP ended up being the confused program ever envisaged and executed. The VC and I suppose the then HRD minister were unsure what they wanted. If they wanted the American system then the students would have the freedom to choose their major and minor subjects after two years of college. Instead in FYUP, you had to declare the major and minor subject right at the start which implies there is no freedom. The second point that led to its demise was its failure to take the stake holders along. Truthfully I feel sorry for the VC for in a system as vast as the DU it is difficult to get everyone on board. Frankly, most of the University/college teachers work under horrendous conditions and there is no motivation. Even if they had been passionate about teaching few years down the road they lose that. Many of them of course have no passion to begin with. Under this circumstances they are happy to plod along as ever. When faced with FYUP which was being thrust down on them they objected. And the present government obliged.
However, to throw all the four year programs out without even analyzing and asking whether we need to rejig our education system is plain stupid.
We, of course, do not teach undergrads but our post-grads are usually DU products. When FYUP was introduced, our anxiety was about our catchment area. Who will come to our M.Sc and Ph.D. programs. I had a chance to ask Prof Lakhotia about the FYUP when he came for the 40 years celebration to the School of Life Sciences. I remember he said that he had been on the committee that had recommended the shift from 3 year to 4 year program. They had introduced all safeguards including recommending 1 year M.S program. Of course in the haste to implement the FYUP, all this was forgotten and what we got was the mess.
And now the extension of it is-- let us throw all the 4 years programs out.
What was UGC doing when it first gave the approval?
As an aside: For the first time, I did not want to teach this year. I have no motivation left after fighting for promotion and other things.
The DU FYUP ended up being the confused program ever envisaged and executed. The VC and I suppose the then HRD minister were unsure what they wanted. If they wanted the American system then the students would have the freedom to choose their major and minor subjects after two years of college. Instead in FYUP, you had to declare the major and minor subject right at the start which implies there is no freedom. The second point that led to its demise was its failure to take the stake holders along. Truthfully I feel sorry for the VC for in a system as vast as the DU it is difficult to get everyone on board. Frankly, most of the University/college teachers work under horrendous conditions and there is no motivation. Even if they had been passionate about teaching few years down the road they lose that. Many of them of course have no passion to begin with. Under this circumstances they are happy to plod along as ever. When faced with FYUP which was being thrust down on them they objected. And the present government obliged.
However, to throw all the four year programs out without even analyzing and asking whether we need to rejig our education system is plain stupid.
We, of course, do not teach undergrads but our post-grads are usually DU products. When FYUP was introduced, our anxiety was about our catchment area. Who will come to our M.Sc and Ph.D. programs. I had a chance to ask Prof Lakhotia about the FYUP when he came for the 40 years celebration to the School of Life Sciences. I remember he said that he had been on the committee that had recommended the shift from 3 year to 4 year program. They had introduced all safeguards including recommending 1 year M.S program. Of course in the haste to implement the FYUP, all this was forgotten and what we got was the mess.
And now the extension of it is-- let us throw all the 4 years programs out.
What was UGC doing when it first gave the approval?
As an aside: For the first time, I did not want to teach this year. I have no motivation left after fighting for promotion and other things.
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