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The University Grants Commission on Monday asked the DelhiUniversity to continue the Bachelor in Management Studies programme only for students enrolled to it during 2013-14 academic year, but under a three-year duration.
Even as students of BMS protested demanding that the course duration be kept four years, the Commission, after several rounds of discussion and after meeting the agitating students, asked the DU in the evening to convert BMS it into a three-year course.
It also asked the colleges under the varsity which have admitted students to the programme to obtain appropriate approval of the regulatory bodies such as UGC and AICTE
"Students already admitted to the four year BMS programme 2013-14 only by various colleges under the University of Delhi may continue in this programme; however the duration of the programme shall be of three years," it told DU.
The students had earlier in the day met senior UGC officials and submitted a memorandum in which they have demanded that their interests be taken into consideration and had spoken against the reduction of duration of the non-technical professional course to three years.
"We have submitted a memorandum to UGC. It was being said on Sunday 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.
However, following the UGC directive, she said, "We are willing to compromise on the number of years, but want the BMS programme to continue not only for our batch, but for subsequent batches."
The UGC had on Sunday remained quiet on the fate of the 840 students who had enrolled in the BMS course after it directed DU to continue with the four-year B Tech programme for those admitted in academic year 2013-14.
The course was started last year under the now-scrapped Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) after combining three courses -- Bachelor of Business Economics, Bachelor of Business Studies and Bachelor of Financial and Investment Analysis.
The 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. According to DU guidelines, students who have registered for the current academic year will be eligible for admission to all courses wherever they meet the criteria.
Giving another chance to those students who had missed the deadline to fill application forms, the varsity has allowed them to take admission by filling the university registration form along with the college admission form.
Under pressure from the UGC to act on its directive, DU on Saturday scrapped FYUP and reverted to the previous 3-year structure.