Delhi University teachers demand VC inervention

Delhi University teachers today demanded the Vice Chancellor's intervention in the issue of around 24 varsity colleges not having AICTE approval for B.Tech courses even as scores of students held a protest in that regard outside its Arts Faculty.

"The careers of 6,000 students will continue to hang in balance if Delhi University does not seek AICTE approval for the B.Tech degree programmes in which they are enrolled," DUTA President Nandita Narain said in a statement here.

"While AICTE has set February 20, 2015, as the last date for seeking approval, DU is yet to put its act together. None of the five B.Tech courses introduced in 2013, in Computer Science, Electronics, Food Technology, Instrumentation Electronics and Polymer Science, have the AICTE's approval," she said.

"DUTA appeals to the DU VC to respond positively to the students' urgent need and ensure that the approvals are taken before the last date," she added.

The four-year B.Tech programmes were launched as part of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), which was scrapped last year after the intervention of UGC. UGC had directed DU to continue with the five B.Tech programmes, but only for the students admitted in the academic year 2013-2014.

The colleges were also asked to seek AICTE approval. "The process, according to AICTE, entails the submission of a detailed report on the course content, syllabi, infrastructure and faculty (all of which have to be in accordance with standards laid down by AICTE) and the preparation of such a report should have started earlier.

"If the formalities are not completed in time, the DU administration's negligence can endanger the students' future. It is unfortunate that the students are planning to agitate on an issue which could have been handled competently if the administration had been responsible and sensitive to its own duty," the DUTA President said.

PTI