The FYUP Row is part of several ongoing protests against the implementation of certain controversial reforms at the University of Delhi. The protests intensified between 2013 and 2014, when a new four year undergraduate programme was started by the administrative authorities at the university. In June 2014, the University Grants Commission (UGC) sent a legal notice to the management, directing the university to immediately scrap the four year programme and revert to the earlier three year undergraduate degree, as it found the four year programme to be in violation with the National Policy of Education in India.
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Stand-off between Delhi University and the UGC
Proponents of the FYUP programme, and members of the academic fraternity, felt that UGC's directive to the university was a step against its autonomy. One of these also included BB Bhattacharya, the former vice chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
However, others see these reforms as a move to privatise a public university, as part of the previous Congress-led UPA government's agenda to enable foreign universities to set up campuses in India. They instead stressed upon the need for greater public policy and regulation in the education system.
The FYUP
The programme was structured such that it would be inter-disciplinary, which was not the case in the traditional honours programme. The syllabus of the four year undergraduate programme consisted of eleven compulsory foundation courses, which included the following:
These foundation courses were designed with the intention of addressing issues related to economic development, energy, water, urbanisation, rural culture, infrastructure, transport, sanitation, environment, public health, food security, agriculture, education, literacy, ethics, and social justice. The methodology of teaching was meant to inculcate a participatory ethos, with a minimised pressure on reading, and a greater emphasis on presentation skills.
Over and above the foundation course were the applied language courses, and the "DC I" and "DC II" courses that would pertain to a student's choice of major and minor specialisations respectively. There were also a set of applied courses, and finally a course on the "integration of mind, body, and heart", which was to be based on Gandhian philosophy.