DU B.Tech to be 4-yr course

• For students who were admitted in 2013-14
• Around 6,500 students were enrolled last year in six B.Tech programmes

New Delhi: In a relief to hundreds of students, the Delhi University (DU) on Sunday directed by UGC to continue with the four-year B.Tech programme for those admitted in academic year 2013-14, bringing to an end the uncertainty following rollback of the controversial FYUP.

The directive by the University Grants Commission (UGC) came even as scores of B.Tech and BMS students of DU staged a protest outside the residence of Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, demanding that their four-year courses should not be scrapped.

A meeting of the Standing Advisory Committee is being convened on Monday to discuss about the fate of the Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS) course.

Around 6,500 students were enrolled last year in six B.Tech programmes-- Computer Science, Electronics, Food Technology, Polymer Science, Instrumentation and Electronics and Psychological Science--in 35 colleges, according to a DU official. About 840 students are pursuing the BMS course. They have been protesting ever since the rollback of FYUP.

The UGC also asked DU to ensure that colleges under it, which admitted students to the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), obtain approval from regulatory bodies such as UGC itself and AICTE to ensure that students under FYUP are not put to any disadvantage.

Under pressure from UGC to act on its directive, DU yesterday scrapped its four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) and reverted to the previous three-year structure. The DU also decided to iscontinue its B.Tech and BMS courses and not hold any fresh admissions to them.

The directive of UGC is in line with the recommendation of its Standing Committee, which has suggested that the programme should continue in the four-year format for the students already admitted so that there is no "prejudice" caused to their interest.