FYUP: DU BMS students protest in front of UGC office

New Delhi: With UGC still silent on the fate of the BMS course of Delhi University, several students today staged a protest outside the UGC office here demanding that their programme should be conducted in the four-year format. University Grants Commission had yesterday directed DU to continue with the four-year B.Tech programme for those admitted in academic year 2013-14 but remained quiet on the fate of the 840 students who had enrolled in the Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS) course last year. [caption id=“attachment_1596303” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The students met senior UGC officials and submitted a memorandum in which they have demanded that their interests be taken into consideration and spoken against the non-technical professional course being reduced to three-years’ duration. “We have submitted a memorandum to UGC. It was being said yesterday that UGC will hold a meeting to discuss about the students of BMS course, but so far we have got no word on it. We intend to continue our protest till our demands are met,” said Nida Saifi, a BMS student. UGC Vice Chairman H Devaraj had yesterday said that a meeting of the Standing Advisory Committee would be convened to discuss the fate of the BMS course. The course was started last year under the now-scrapped Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) after combining three courses — Bachelor of Business Economics (BBE), Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS) and Bachelor of Financial and Investment Analysis (BFIA). DU, which has decided to scrap BMS course along with B.Tech courses, will hold admissions to BBS and BA (Hons) (Business Economics) on the basis of the criteria already announced for BMS admission 2014-15. Meanwhile, dissatisfied with UGC’s directive to DU, a group of B Tech students staged a protest in North Campus. “Asking DU to continue with the B.Tech course only for the current batch is not enough. The DU VC should give us a written assurance that the university is not going to scrap the B Tech programme,” said a student. Another student, Ruchi, said, “We would be the only batch to pass out from B.Tech courses of DU. What value would our degrees hold in the job market?” 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. UGC has also asked DU to ensure that colleges under it which admitted students to B.Tech courses should obtain approval from regulatory bodies such as the commission itself and AICTE to ensure the students are not put to any disadvantage. Under pressure from UGC, DU had on Saturday scrapped FYUP and reverted to the previous three-year structure. PTI