Faculty members at colleges across DU have highlighted significant gaps in planning and infrastructure, emphasising that the lack of preparedness raises concerns about the effective implementation of the NEP 2020 recommendations. They also called on the university to conduct a survey to better understand student preferences and assess the future needs of colleges in accommodating an additional batch of students.
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Meanwhile, students are awaiting clarity on the course structure, uncertain about what they will be studying, who will supervise their dissertations, and how an additional year will add value to their degree.
“An extra year makes sense for students planning to study abroad or pursue higher education, but it’s unclear how it will benefit students like me who are considering an MBA and want to start a career,” said Anmol Kumar, a third-year undergraduate student at Hindu College.
However, the university administration dismissed concerns over the ability of DU colleges to accommodate an additional batch of students, adding that the learning outcomes for the fourth year will be released soon.
DU registrar Vikas Gupta told ThePrint, “The University has already prepared the course framework and it will be placed in the upcoming academic council meeting on 27 December.”
The framework will then be placed before the executive council for further approval.
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Stretched thin—faculty highlight infra challenges
The biggest challenge for Delhi University is its size–it has over 90 affiliated colleges offering more than 70,000 undergraduate seats each year.
By contrast, other central universities have a significantly smaller number of undergraduate seats. For example, Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia offers only 42 seats in BA (Honours) in Political Science and Aligarh Muslim University offers 150 seats for the same course.
With every DU college seeing an average of 100 students in each course every year, faculty members have highlighted the lack of infrastructure and resources to support an additional batch.
For instance, Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of political science at Ramjas College, highlighted that the NEP 2020 envisions a mentor-mentee system where faculty are expected to engage with students outside regular classroom hours.
“For this to work effectively, faculty need dedicated spaces, like faculty rooms, to interact with students. The lack of such infrastructure is a significant hurdle,” he told ThePrint.
He also said that DU faculty never anticipated classes with over 100 students, meaning that classes are already overcrowded and students reportedly even sit on the floor due to insufficient space in some colleges. “An additional batch will only worsen the existing infrastructure issues, making effective teaching and mentoring challenging. Therefore, colleges need infrastructure upgrades first,” Aeijaz added.
Seema Das, an associate professor at Hindu College, noted that while a few colleges might be better equipped, the majority of DU colleges will struggle with these limitations. “Even those with relatively better facilities will still face significant challenges in managing the increased number of students effectively,” she told ThePrint.
This shortage of space and resources, she emphasised, will impact the ability to provide adequate support services, including mentoring and research supervision.
Naveen Gaur, an associate professor of physics at Dyal Singh College, expressed serious concerns about the lack of adequate tutorial rooms in several colleges, including his own, to accommodate not only existing students but also the incoming additional cohort.
“Tutorials are a fundamental part of the four-year programme,” Gaur explained.
“They carry credits, alongside lectures, and require continuous evaluation. However, due to space constraints, tutorials aren’t even taking place for current students. So, how can we expect to manage an influx of more students?” he questioned. “Are colleges expected to run ‘ghost classes’—classes that exist on paper but aren’t actually conducted?”
Gaur highlighted the unique role of tutorials in the academic experience. “Tutorials are less formal than lectures, typically with smaller groups, which provide a better environment for students to engage directly with their lecturers and peers,” he said. “They are vital for fostering deeper learning and discussion, and without adequate space, the quality of these interactions will be severely compromised.”
He went on to emphasise the already strained resources in his college. “Our classrooms are full throughout the day, even with just the current three-year students. How can we possibly accommodate an additional year?”
“Similarly, our laboratories, which are already operating at full capacity, are not spacious enough to accommodate even the existing students. Adding another year’s worth of students would push the infrastructure to breaking point,” Gaur said.
The principal of an off-campus Delhi University college, speaking on condition of anonymity, told ThePrint, “Since the introduction of the 10 percent additional seats under the Economically Weaker Section quota in 2019, no new classrooms have been built.”
“Now, with an additional batch of students, we still have no additional infrastructure to accommodate them. It remains to be seen how colleges will manage this growing strain.”
Pressure on teaching staff
N.P. Ashley, an assistant professor in the Department of English at St. Stephen’s College, also flagged the increased pressure on teaching staff. “With a new batch coming in, both teachers and students are unsure of what to expect. An extra batch means more classrooms and teachers will be needed.”
He added, “Some colleges have enrolments of 6,000. This means 2,000 extra students—space, faculty, facilities and academic plans, there is no clarity on any of these and this uncertainty is hugely stressful for third year students. If not addressed in whatever manner, the university will implode.”
Ashley stressed the need for more teaching staff. “You have 33 percent more students and no talk on additional hires. The university might say they only need to write a dissertation or colleges can work in shifts. Forget the huge practical and logistical issues, who will mentor them? You can’t just add another year of studies without thinking of any of this.”
However, DU registrar Gupta said all colleges are equipped with the necessary infrastructure and faculty to handle the new fourth-year programme, though he acknowledged that a full assessment of specific needs is still underway. “At this stage, colleges are yet to assess the requirements, but we are confident that colleges have the basic infrastructure and faculty to manage the additional year,” Gupta said.
He added, “Once one or two batches complete the fourth year, we anticipate that everything will fall into place. The university will then upgrade its infrastructure gradually, in line with the growing demand.”
Faculty unprepared, no clarity over curriculum
Furthermore, Abha Dev Habib, associate professor at the Department of Physics at Miranda House, raised concerns about the lack of clarity surrounding the curriculum for the fourth year. “There is no clear understanding of what will be taught in the fourth year, leaving both students and faculty uncertain about the academic path ahead.”
She suggested that more than half the students may even exit after the third year because of a lack of information on what a fourth year would involve.
She also expressed concern that the University has not conducted any surveys to gauge how many students are likely to pursue the fourth year. “If the University were to conduct a survey, colleges would have some insight, allowing them to assess existing gaps in infrastructure and faculty resources,” she said.
Habib also emphasised that not all faculty members are prepared to teach specialised elective courses typically offered at the master’s level, such as research methodology or advanced research projects. “This gap in faculty preparation further compounds the challenges of implementing a research-intensive fourth year,” she added, stressing the need for better support and orientation for both students and teachers.
Faculty members also highlighted that the current faculty recruitment process at colleges did not anticipate this shift toward a research-focused final year, leaving a gap in preparedness. “The system was not designed with this transition in mind, and as a result, we are unprepared for the research demands that the fourth year will require,” Ramjas College associate professor Aeijaz emphasised.
Under the new NEP guidelines, students now have the option to pursue a PhD after completing four years of undergraduate education, meaning that the last year should be academically rigorous.
“The fourth year needs to be treated with the same level of academic intensity and teaching quality as a master’s programme. However, there is a significant lack of clarity on how to implement these standards, and both faculty and students lack proper orientation,” Aeijaz said.
Several students also expressed uncertainty about the lack of information about critical aspects of the new four year structure, particularly regarding dissertation supervision and the overall organisation of the research component.
“We’re still waiting for clear answers about who will supervise our dissertations and how the supervision process will be structured,” said Mahima Garg, a third-year student at Gargi College. “These are basic but essential questions that need to be resolved before we can even begin to plan our research.”
Implementation easier at other universities
Officials at other central universities across India told ThePrint that implementing a four-year programme will be relatively easier for them compared to affiliated colleges and state universities that often face resource constraints.
Siddhartha Chakraborty, an associate professor in the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), explained, “As a central university, the adoption process is smoother because we have the necessary resources. AMU has sufficient infrastructure to support this transition, but for colleges or even state universities, the challenge is more significant.”
“They would need at least one-third more classrooms to accommodate the additional year. Online classes don’t work effectively, as we all know.”
He went on to highlight the advantages central universities have over colleges.
“At AMU, there are typically 10 or more halls or auditoriums available on any given day, which is not the case in most colleges,” Chakraborty said. “Moreover, central universities generally have a limited number of undergraduate seats, while colleges often have much larger student populations.”
Chakraborty also said that universities won’t face difficulties in curriculum formation as well. “At universities, we already offer master’s-level courses, and we have the autonomy to adapt them for the four-year programme. We can easily integrate master’s-level content into undergraduate courses. This flexibility simply doesn’t exist in colleges,” he added.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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