New Delhi: The first set of students under Delhi University‘s four year undergraduate programme (FYUP) under the National Education Policy is set to graduate come May, but the city’s postgraduate system is not uniformly prepared to absorb them.For students under FYUP, the promise of a one-year Master’s degree may be harder to access than expected, creating a transition-year bottleneck in the capital, which draws a large number of post graduate aspirants from across the country. And it is not just DU that adopted FYUP. Several universities across the country were brought on board in 2022.
According to the University Grants Commission, at least 20 central universities have adopted FYUP.At Jawaharlal Nehru University, one of the city’s foremost postgraduate and research institutions, which is ranked second as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework — a one-year MA structure has not taken shape. Heads of several schools at the university told TOI that preparations for the new pathway have not even begun.“There is currently no syllabus, no course framework and no preparatory work done for a one-year Master’s programme,” said a senior department head on condition of anonymity. “With just a few months left before the FYUP batch graduates in various universities, there is practically no time to create a robust academic structure for all our courses. It is not even clear whether the university will start the one-year MA this year.“JNU has over 50 MA and MSc programmes, and barring a few language courses, one year MA is not available in the university, even as the university has implemented multiple entry-exit options.Under the proposed NEP framework, universities need to rework curriculum, secure executive council approvals and reconfigure academic calendars — a process that academics say is inherently time-consuming.At DU, one-year MA has been rolled out but admissions this year are restricted to its own FYUP graduates, excluding students from other universities. DU’s executive council had approved the implementation guidelines for the one-year postgraduate structure in line with NEP provisions, last year. However, teachers pointed out that syllabi for several courses are yet to receive final approval. “Running parallel one-year and two-year MA structures will require a robust academic ecosystem. It’s a significant challenge for universities that are already stretched thin on faculty and resources,” said Abha Dev Habib, a faculty member at DU’s Miranda House.At Jamia Millia Islamia, while the university is preparing to offer the one-year MA from the 2026–27 academic session, its own first FYUP batch is still in the third year due to delayed implementation of the four-year structure.Several heads of departments said the rollout is on schedule. “The one-year MA is planned from the upcoming academic session, and the university should be able to accommodate eligible students,” a senior faculty member said. However, they acknowledged the transitional gap, adding, “Since our first FYUP cohort is a year behind, by the time they graduate under the four-year system, students from other universities would already have completed their degrees. This creates an uneven transition phase.”The staggered rollout means that most FYUP graduates from across the country, who compete for seats in Delhi’s central universities, may have to enrol in a two-year programme despite being eligible for a shorter pathway.“This is a glaring oversight of policy execution,” said a final-year FYUP student pursuing Mathematics at a DU college. “The NEP’s one-year master’s was meant to provide flexibility and options, but the staggered implementation has created unnecessary problems. Now many of us face the prospect of doing a two-year MA or drop a year until the academic route stabilises.”Registration for PG admissions in Delhi usually starts around May, with DU, JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia accepting admissions through Common University Entrance Test.
