UGC orders DU to admit students only to 3-yr course

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has ordered the Delhi University (DU) and its colleges to admit students “only” for the three-year undergraduate programme, threatening them of “serious consequences”, including withdrawal of grants, if they go ahead with the contentious four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP).

The higher-education regulator toughened its stand on the issue a day after the DU struck a defiant note by retaining the contentious FYUP with certain modifications on Saturday, even as the UGC wanted it to be scrapped.

In its letter to the DU and all the 64 colleges operating under it on Sunday, the UGC directed them to ensure that “under no circumstances” are students admitted to the FYUP for the 2014-15 academic year.

“Any deviation from this directive either by the University of Delhi or any of the colleges under it shall be deemed to be in contravention of the UGC Act, 1956, with its consequences,” wrote UGC secretary Jaspal Singh Sandhu in his letter to the colleges.

The DU's academic council  passed a resolution noting that students seeking admission to UG programmes would be admitted in the 3-year bachelor's degree programmes (BA/BSc/BCom) in their Discipline 1 (major subject) and would graduate with the corresponding degree after 30 years.