Delhi University's Fourth-Year Research Programme Faltering under NEP
Aranya Shankar | 17 December 2025 | The Federal
Delhi University’s (DU) ambitious attempt to turn the fourth year of its undergraduate programme into a researchfocused academic experience is faltering, with teachers and students across colleges pointing to low attendance, erratic guidelines, unrealistic expectations and a lack of institutional seriousness.
Low attendance in fourth year
Introduced under the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) 2022, of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the optional fourth year was projected as a gateway to postgraduate-level research, with a dissertation at its core. However, as the first full batch moves through the programme, several colleges report that many students who enrolled for the fourth year are barely attending classes or meaningfully engaging with dissertation work…