NEW DELHI: A proposal to grant undergraduate degrees to five students, who have finished three years of a five-year course at Delhi School of Journalism, is likely to be placed in the upcoming academic council meeting of Delhi University (DU). It became an issue as these students left the course in the fifth year.
According to the proposal scheduled to be placed before the academic council on August 3, the degree will be granted as a “special case on sympathetic grounds.” It further said that the students would also be permitted to complete the Five Year Integrated Programme in Journalism (FYIP). The DSJ, which began in 2017, offers a five-year programme in journalism where students have the option to avail the multiple entry-exit system. The first batch of the five-year programme students is expected to graduate this year.
Speaking to TOI, a senior DSJ official explained that there is no provision to grant an undergraduate degree to students who have opted to exit in the fourth year or before completing the fifth year. “Intially, there was a provision for entering and exiting the programme at any point of the course. Those who completed their three-year degree are awarded a BA degree while those who complete the five-year course are awarded the FYIJP. However, the confusion started as there were continuing students who wanted to exit either in the fourth year or in the first semester of the fifth year.”
“Such students were not awarded a BA degree as they opted to continue their studies in the five-year programme. The university now also has to approve awarding of the degree to them and permit them to complete their FYIJP. Those who exit the programme after securing a BA degree and want to rejoin for the MA programme are required to appear for an entrance exam. As the course began in 2017, this is also the first time that these issues are coming to the fore,” the official said.
