Serious allegations of plagiarism have been pressed against the draft framework for the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) that was released by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on March 17. The Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF) has released a statement detailing instances of plagiarised portions in the draft framework from guidelines issued by the University of Michigan and the University of Arizona. This was part of its feedback on the draft FYUGP, the window for which closed on April 4.
The feedback statement provides seven instances of alleged plagiarised sets of paragraphs in the draft framework. These include an explanation for the inclusion of courses on Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Vocational Studies for the first three semesters and English and one Modern Indian Language for the first two semesters of the four-year programme. Students will be allowed to choose their major only at the end of the third semester, in which, they will also study a course on Understanding India and Digital Solutions. The study of the major essentially begins in the fourth semester and the fourth year of study is dedicated to research.
"The courses relating to these areas of learning aim at instilling an understanding and an appreciation of all main areas of learning. Though students are not required to master all areas in detail, they are expected to develop a coherent view of essential concepts, structures and intellectual methods that characterise each of these areas of learning," says the UGC. This parrots the observations made in the first paragraph of the statement of requirements at the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) at the University of Michigan, which reads, "LSA seeks to instill an understanding and an appreciation of all major areas of learning. Students are not expected to master all areas in detail, but they should develop a coherent view of essential concepts, structures, and intellectual methods that typify these disciplines.
Courses offered by the academic departments and programs of the College are divided into five area categories:
- the Natural Sciences
- the Social Sciences
- the Humanities
- Mathematics and Symbolic Analysis
- Creative Expression
Each of these divisions represents a different perspective on human knowledge and learning; some departments and programs overlap these divisions while others may stand outside them."
Apart from the statements themselves being plagiarised, DTF also raises concerns about the applicability of such a module in the system of education in India, where students are expected to select majors at the 10+2 level. "Cut and paste is bad enough. But you cannot borrow ideas that are not grounded in your realities. Specialisation is required at the 10+2 level itself. When they have borrowed this idea, they need to explain how this framework will work for us," says Dr Abha Dev Habib, Secretary of DTF and a faculty at the Department of Physics, Miranda House, Delhi University.
A summary of the UGC's proposed framework for the FYUGP, shared by the UGC Chairman, Prof M Jagadesh Kumar, states, "The curricular framework and credit system developed by the UGC for undergraduate programmes emulating the limitless learnings existed in the ancient India will throw infinite opportunities to students, we hope."
Responding to the allegations, Prof Kumar said, "UGC received the feedback about FYUGP guidelines on Monday evening. UGC passed on this feedback to the drafting committee of FYUGP. This committee consists of academicians from across the country. The committee is looking into it and will soon provide their response. The FYUGP draft is a work in progress, no credits/acknowledgements have been mentioned, though they are available with the committee. The final version of FYUGP will have due credits/acknowledgements. What is posted on the UGC website is a draft version of FYUGP guidelines and it will be finalised after taking into account feedback from stakeholders."
UGC's feedback window for the draft FYUGP, which is a 27-page document, closed yesterday and allowed only for a 500-word response from stakeholders. DTF's statement is 12 pages long. Among many issues, it flags the lack of time given to the student to study the major they chose. "The suggested framework wastes three semesters over numerous lukewarm courses and pushes the study of core discipline to only semesters IV, V and VI. In CBCS (Choice Based Credit System), the student studies the major discipline over six semesters. The proposed framework reduces the overall time in which the student engages with the major discipline. This scheme will reduce the time for self-study towards the core subject," it states.
UGC's statement on the draft FYUGP says, "Students pursuing four-year undergraduate programmes are required to demonstrate a general understanding of the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, interdisciplinary studies and vocational education as well as in-depth study of at least one subject area."
"The feedback has been received by the expert committee. We will review it and respond in a few days' time," said the UGC Chairman to Edexlive.
