DU B.Tech students stage protest outside UGC office

New Delhi, Jun 25: Several B.Tech

of

on Wednesday staged a

outside the office of University Grants Commission demanding that their course should not be scrapped even if the three-year format replaces the controversial Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP).

A delegation of students later met senior UGC officials and submitted a memorandum in which they demanded that their interests be taken into consideration while deciding on how to seamlessly migrate to the 3-year format.

"Having enrolled in the University of Delhi for a B.Tech degree, we expect that we obtain the same and none of our rights are violated. It is a humble request that our demands are taken care of and the matter is looked into," Arjun Malhotra, a student of B.Tech in Computer Science, said.

The students demanded that the course should not be converted to B.SC and continue to be of four years. "If B.Tech degree is converted into B.SC, our future will be doldrums. B.Tech should be treated independent of the FYUP," Malhotra added.

Another B.Tech student Ansh said, "If only our batch, that is batch of 2013, gets a B.Tech degree and the course is discontinued for the subsequent batches, then it is quite likely that the degree won't hold any market value.

"Also, there are a large number of applicants who wish to enroll in the B.Tech program this year so it is necessary to keep in mind their interests," he added.

Ever since UGC directed DU to roll back FYUP and conduct admission for three-year programme there has been uncertainty over the admission process that involves the fate of over 2.7 lakh students clamouring for 54,000 seats in 64 colleges.

On Monday, Principals of the colleges affiliated to DU decided to defer the admission process that was to start yesterday for the new academic session. After handing over the memorandum to the UGC officials and being assured that their demands will be met, the students shifted their protest venue to North Campus.

The students had staged a protest outside UGC office yesterday as well.

PTI