DU panel approves plan to look for alternative sources of funding

Delhi University (DU)’s Academic Council (AC) on Thursday passed two draft proposals — ‘Strategic Plan 2024-2047’ and ‘Institutional Development Plan 2024’ — despite dissent by member teachers, who said that the two documents, mandated under the National Education Policy, 2020, were approved hastily.

The development plan states that in light of the “falling trend in government grants”, the university will look to generate revenue from “internal as well as external sources through appropriate mechanisms”.

Several teachers said the draft paves the way for the administration to raise students’ fees to meet the shortfall in grants by the University Grants Commission.

Proposed revisions to a history paper on Delhi were also passed at the AC meeting in spite of objections about the amendments being made to suit “the agenda of the ruling dispensation”.

An official said objections and suggestions regarding the plans and the revisions to the history paper will be directed to the administration, which will, on the basis of the merits of the input, incorporate them and submit the revised documents to the Executive Council for final approval.

The strategic plan, drafted for the first time in December last year and withdrawn following allegations of plagiarism, is aimed at turning DU into “an internationally acclaimed university” and at creating “a culture of interdisciplinary research and teaching, strengthening university-industry relations, among others”. The development plan contains the guidelines that the university needs to follow over the next few decades to implement the strategic plan. Eight committees were set up to work on different aspects of the documents, said university officials.

The development plan states that the university must identify new sources of funding, by rewarding research activities and through corporate social responsibility initiatives. It also says that DU must look at attracting foreign funding, establishing more research laboratories, and maintaining close relations with various Ministries. It also says that the university should revise the curriculum “in alignment with industry requirements”. The draft suggests more skill-based courses and university-industry collaborations and says that more efforts must be made to encourage students to “work while learning”.

Six professors signed a dissent note against it, saying, “It has been clearly stated that DU, which is a public-funded institution, has to generate revenue from sources other than government funding. This implies that revenue is sought to be generated from sources such as students’ fees, which already comprise 23.4% of the total receipts of DU.”

The dissent note added that the two documents — strategic plan and development plan — use the word ‘industry’ 194 times. It termed the emphasis on building university-industry relationships “dangerous” and added that such an approach “will eat into the autonomy of knowledge production and dissemination that wider society requires of public-funded HEIs [Higher Education Institutes].

Assistant Professor of History and one of the dissenting AC members, Maya John, said, “The university is clearly moving away from research in social sciences of caste, gender, etc., towards very specific research areas.”

However, a university official said, “We are not moving away from government funding, but only working towards increasing internal revenue through CSR and other initiatives.” The official said the draft development plan also envisions a more research-based curriculum, quality research programmes, and PhD and postdoctoral scholars.

Published - October 11, 2024 02:08 am IST