Editorial Note, Jul-Aug, 2013

The current issue of Social Scientist is devoted to a discussion of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) introduced by Delhi University recently in lieu of its earlier three year programme, which had been long in existence and whose duration was in keeping with the practice that prevails everywhere else in India at present. Readers may wonder: why should we be so concerned with a change in the academic programme in one particular university in the country? True, Delhi University is a premier institution whose undergraduate programme has had a well-deserved reputation for excellence; and its sudden replacement for no rhyme or reason by some odd new programme, with the backing, obviously, of the central government, is a matter to be exercised over – but does that deserve a whole issue of the journal?