B.Tech to remain four-year course for enrolled students

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) The UGC Sunday said students admitted in Delhi University's B.Tech course during the 2013-14 academic year will continue to pursue the four-year course they enrolled for.

The announcement came as a relief for nearly 2,500 students in the various B.Tech courses, even as Delhi University rolled back its four-year undergraduate programme following instructions from the University Grants Commission (UGC).

This will, however, be applicable only for students already enrolled in the four-year B.Tech courses. From this year, students will be admitted to three-year courses.

"Four-year B.Tech programmes in Computer Science, Electronics, Food Technology, Instrumentation Electronics and Polymer Science (where students were admitted in colleges under Delhi University) and which are covered under section 22 of the UGC Act, with respect to B.Tech, may continue in these programmes only for the students already admitted for academic year 2013-14," said a UGC statement.

Colleges offering these programmes have, however, been asked to obtain approval from regulatory bodies such as the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to "ensure that students admitted in these programmes are not put to any disadvantage", it said.

The university started B.Tech courses in six streams - Computer Science, Electronics, Food Technology, Polymer Science, Instrumentation and Electronics and Psychological Science - as part of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) started in the 2013-14 academic year.

B.Tech students have been protesting ever since the rollback of the FYUP.

The UGC, however, has remained silent on the Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS) programme, even as students are against reverting it to a three-year course.

Delhi University Friday scrapped the year-old FYUP.

Around 100 students of B.Tech and BMS courses Sunday protested outside Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's house here against the scrapping of the FYUP.