Latest news with #GenericElectives
Hindustan Times
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
DU scraps mandatory Generic Electives for minor subjects
Delhi University (DU), in a recent move, has scrapped the provisions that required students to take certain mandatory Generic Electives (GE) subjects if they wanted to pursue a particular discipline as their minor. The university had come up with the provision of mandatory GEs to 'raise the academic standard'. (HT Archive) A notification, dated Tuesday, mentions, '...Regarding the provisions of mandatory Generic Electives (GEs), it is notified that there shall not be any mandatory requirement for the students to choose any particular GEs to make such discipline a minor for the purpose of seeking admission in the postgraduate programme in that discipline in the university.' A senior official told HT that while under the provision of Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF 2022) students can choose a discipline as their major along with a simultaneous discipline as their minor, the university had come up with the provision of mandatory GEs to 'raise the academic standard'. 'Following implementation of UGCF, the university decided that each department will have a list of mandatory GEs. Students would have to choose at least three from this list and they could choose four more papers from anywhere in the list of GEs, to get a minor in that discipline and be able to pursue their post graduation in that later,' said the senior official. The official added, 'This has been done away with because admission through CUET does not mandate such a thing and students are anyway sitting for an entrance test.' The notification reiterated the same and mentioned, '…students who wish to make himself/herself eligible to apply for a postgraduate programme in the 'Minor' discipline…, may choose any GE out of the pool of GEs offered to them.'
Indian Express
29-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
DU to standardise classroom sizes in UG and PG days before new session
Just days before the University of Delhi implements the four-year undergraduate programme for the first time under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the administration has issued a fresh notification standardising classroom sizes across all its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The move, aimed at bringing 'uniformity in Teacher-Student ratio,' comes as Delhi University prepares for a structurally new academic session starting in early August. According to the notification dated July 28, undergraduate lecture groups are to be capped at 60 students, and tutorials and practical classes are limited to 20 each. For postgraduate programmes, the corresponding limits are 50 for lectures, 20 for tutorials, and between 15 and 20 for practicals. 'Classroom size, in terms of the number of students, is hereby notified for compliance by all concerned,' the document, issued by the DU registrar, states. This latest order replaces an earlier directive issued in May 2023, and builds on a similar set of instructions circulated in November 2022. DU had then fixed batch sizes at 60 for lectures, 30 for tutorials, and 25 for practicals in undergraduate courses, and 50, 25, and 15–20, respectively, for postgraduate courses. However, the earlier guidelines had seen patchy implementation, prompting the administration to reassert and tighten the norms ahead of the new academic cycle. The new guidelines also specify student-group sizes for interdisciplinary and skill-based courses that form a core part of the NEP curriculum, including Generic Electives (GEs), Skill Enhancement Courses (SECs), and Value-Added Courses (VACs). For undergraduate programmes, lectures for these courses may range from 20 to 60 students, with tutorials and practicals similarly capped at 20. For postgraduate programmes, lectures for SEC and VAC courses are to have a class size of 20, but no tutorials or practicals are mandated. 'In case of SEC and VAC papers, the practical size should be the same as the class size,' the notification adds. The document outlines a minimum threshold as well. 'In UG, minimum students for any course shall be 20. In case adequate students are not available, a cluster of colleges shall under[take] the teaching learning process.' This provision is likely aimed at supporting smaller departments and newer courses that may struggle with enrolment under the expanded four-year framework. DU has also clarified that the specified class sizes apply 'on sanctioned strength and are exclusive of supernumerary seats.' This means that additional admissions through quotas or special categories are not to be factored into the fixed classroom limits. The notification permits colleges to create mentor-mentee groupings under UGC guidelines, and encourages optimal use of laboratory facilities. 'Colleges may make arrangements for practical classes in such a way that the Laboratory facilities are put to optimum utilisation.'
