DU releases Draft Undergraduate Curriculum Framework 2022, seeks feedback from stakeholders

The Delhi University has declared a draft undergraduate curriculum framework 2022 (UGCF-2022) as per the National Education Policy and further initiated feedback from stakeholders.

DU Draft UGCF-2022: The draft of UGCF was objected to by a majority of teachers saying that it was not discussed in the Academic Council meeting of the university. As per the information, the Draft UGC has already been uploaded to the official website of the university and a link for submitting feedback through a Google form will remain available till January 31.

“The Draft UGCF is being circulated among the stakeholders as well as placed on the website of the University (www.du.ac.in) for the purpose of seeking views from all the stakeholders with special reference to students, parents, academicians, recruiters among others, through a Google Form," it said.

Academic Council member Mithuraaj Dhusiya said this is the fourth such template floated by the DU within this last year in order to introduce the NEP with effect from the academic year 2022-23. “Each draft has varied wildly on fundamentals such as course structure.

Cosmetic changes cannot hide the impending job loss. This particular draft has not even been discussed in the Academic Council," he said.

Former Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) treasurer Abha Dev Habib said “This is the fourth model. While the UGC seems to be bringing guidelines for a four-year undergraduate programme of 160 credits. This shows that the very idea of a single structure leading to multiple types of certifications is so flawed that meaningful FYUP is not possible.”

Ms. Habib said the latest model reduces weightage in terms of the number of hours and hence, credits, dedicated towards Discipline Specific Core (DSC), Discipline Specific Electives (DSE), and Generic Elective (GE) from six (as in the current 3-year LOCF or the other models of FYUP) to four.

"This dilution is not acceptable. Any mindless change will lead to massive dilution of the importance of these key courses for students and a huge reduction of workload for teachers, leading to loss of jobs," she said. She also said that as research has been made a compulsory component, it will generate project shops and "cut and paste" research at a mass level. "The current batch of 12th class students had enough of instability in terms of their crucial years getting affected by the pandemic. It will not be fair to force rushed exercises of CUCET and FYUP on them," she said.