The Delhi University on Wednesday put in motion the implementation of the semester system for its undergraduate courses, inviting objections and suggestions from students and University faculty alike. The semester system is to commence in the 2010-11 academic session.

The proposal, drafted by Pro Vice-Chancellor S K Tandon, Chairman of the Empowered Committee for the Implementation of Semester System (ECISS) , has been placed on the university website. Each semester is to be of 19-week duration. The first will run from July 19 to December 4 and the second from January 3 to May 14.

Both will have 15 weeks of teaching, two weeks of exams, a week each of preparatory holidays for examinations and mid-semester breaks. Results, expected to be a hurdle in the new system, are to be declared between December 20 and 30 for the first semester, and between June 1 and 15 for the second.

While the Honours Programme has been retained, it will be made interdisciplinary. Therefore, a two-domain structure, which will see the introduction of a “Minor” subject along with a “Major” subject, has been proposed.

There will be four papers per semester for all undergraduate courses (Honours, BA, BCom and BSc programmes), thus making a total of 24 papers spread across six semesters.

The “Major” subject for an Honours course will contribute 14 to 15 papers out of the 24. There will be three to four elective papers, which will include one compulsory paper each, in a language and computational techniques.

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