The Delhi University's academic council has approved the varsity's decision for starting three BTech programmes- Computer Science, Electronics and Communications and Electrical Engineering from the academic session 2022-23. The structure of the BTech programmes would be designed in such a manner that there would be a minimum of 50 percent weightage to the major subject area of study with a maximum of 65 percent weightage and remaining weightage would be to the minor subject areas of study, it said. "The student would have complete flexibility to choose any subject area other than his/her major subject area," it mentioned.
"The syllabi of these programmes would be devised taking into consideration the contemporary requirement of the programmes and its synergy with the industry and other premier engineering and technology institutions offering similar programmes of study at this level to make the students globally competitive both in terms of development of trained man power as well as their acceptability for conceptualisation and implementation of successful startups through innovations," read the delibrations of the committee. The student-teacher ratio would be 1:20.
The varsity had constituted a committee under Professor D S Chauhan, former Vice-Chancellor of Uttar Pradesh Technical University and Uttarakhand Technical University, to deliberate upon establishment of departments under Faculty of Technology in the emerging areas of engineering and technology. The committee was supposed to consider the scope and feasibility of establishment of departments under the Faculty of Technology, structure of the departments, areas of academic endeavour the departments are required to accomplish, structure and nomenclature of the courses of study the departments would envisage to run, requirement and qualification of the faculty members necessary to smoothly conduct teaching, learning and research in the departments.
According to the minutes of a meeting of the committee, "...Both Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) and Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology (NSIT) which formed integral part of Faculty of Technology became Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) with the status of Universities by Notifications of the appropriate authorities, thereby severing the umbilical relationship with the University of Delhi over the past years. “Presently DCE is known as Delhi Technological University (DTU) with effect from the year 2009 and NSIT is known as Netaji Subhash University of Technology (NSUT) with effect from the year 2018. These contemporary developments in the present scenario have necessitated revisit of the areas which are fast emerging as dominant areas of teaching learning and research in the field of Engineering & Technology."
Meanwhile, 18 academic council members have issued a dissent note against the decision to offer B.Tech programmes from the academic session 2022-23. The members argued the varsity's infrastructure, admission policy and faculty recruitment in regards with the proposed three under graduate (UG) engineering programmes. "Is the buildings ready to house the departments? If so, where are the names of such buildings? And if they exist, then do they have adequate infrastructure to run these centres? Have areas been officially earmarked for such buildings? Has construction already started in those designated areas? If so, what is the current status report of such construction?" the minutes mentioned.
The faculty members also raised the issues of faculty recruitment and admission policies. "The UGC has not yet sanctioned teaching and non-teaching positions for the BTech programmes and the requirement of Rs 100 crores to run these centres," read the minutes. Also ther is no mention of any fee structure for students.
The detail admission schedule for the BTech programmes will be released soon, the candidates can check at the official website- du.ac.in.