Delhi University’s 1-year PG rollout creates confusion as admissions lag

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On July 1, Delhi University announced that classes for students in the first, third, fifth and seventh semesters of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes would begin on July 28.

The Delhi University’s decision to have third-semester postgraduate students attend classes alongside those enrolled in its newly introduced one-year master’s programme has created confusion as admissions to the new course remain incomplete and several departments have yet to begin teaching

Speaking to The Indian Express, Registrar Vikas Gupta said the admission process for the one-year postgraduate programme had been expedited and that the list of selected candidates was expected within the next couple of days, allowing classes to begin soon after

“There are significant similarities between the curriculum of the one-year programme and the third and fourth semesters of the two-year master’s degree,” Gupta said. “Some departments may have chosen to conduct classes jointly because of this overlap. We have never said that it is compulsory to combine the two classes and a few departments have already started holding classes.”

The delays stand in contrast to the university’s own academic calendar. On July 1, Delhi University announced that classes for students in the first, third, fifth and seventh semesters of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes would begin on July 28. At the same time, the registration window for the new one-year master’s courses remained open until July 31, creating a mismatch between the academic schedule and the admissions process.

The university also appears to be continuing to expand the new programme even as admissions are underway. Recently, the university administration circulated a message to college principals asking them to indicate whether they were willing to introduce the one-year postgraduate programme during the 2026-27 academic session

In the communication, it read that the first cohort of students graduating under the four-year undergraduate framework had completed the statutory requirements for the award of their degrees and that the university had therefore launched the one-year master’s programme. He asked colleges to immediately submit proposals specifying the courses they wished to offer and their planned student intake.

‘Frivolous move’

Following the communication, several colleges convened meetings to discuss the proposal. According to a statement issued by the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), departments at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College were asked during a Staff Council meeting to identify courses that could be offered under the one-year postgraduate programme. The teachers’ body also said that at least one college principal informed faculty members that any teaching under the new programme would be “over and above the existing load on teachers” and that “no guest faculty will be provided for the same.”

The DTF criticised the move, calling it “an extremely frivolous move by the University” that “reflects the cavalier attitude of the University administration towards the students who will be admitted to the 1-year PG course.”

The organisation also questioned why such decisions were being taken after recent meetings of the Academic Council and Executive Council, asking in its statement: “Has Delhi University become a WhatsApp University run in ‘Emergency Mode’ without thinking through the ramifications of such knee-jerk actions?”

The teachers’ body argued that while the university had increased seats in the one-year master’s programme following pressure from stakeholders, “no expansion in terms of infrastructure and human resources has taken place in University Departments to cope with the increased numbers.” It said departments were already grappling with shortages of classrooms and laboratories and that existing workload norms had significantly increased teaching and evaluation responsibilities.

The DTF further noted that the one-year postgraduate students are expected to join the second year of the existing two-year master’s programmes even though “classes for the same have started whereas the admission to 1-year PG courses has yet not started as results of many 4th year courses are yet not declared.”

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd

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Source: indianexpress.com