Students have now become the primary source of revenue for public universities because of reduced government funding.

A committee of Delhi University (DU) has recommended doubling the fees charged from students seeking corrections in their mark sheets and degrees. The university currently charges ₹500 from students seeking corrections in transcripts issued in the last six years and ₹1,000 for corrections in documents which were issued over six years ago.

The university had set up the committee which has suggested doubling the amount currently being charged in both categories. A student will have to pay ₹1,000 for a correction in the mark sheet or degree document issued in the last six years and ₹2,000 for such corrections in documents issued over six years ago. The academic council (AC) of the DU will consider this proposal in its next meeting on July 12.

Rajesh Jha, a former executive council (EC) member of DU, said that the mistakes in mark sheets and degrees were entirely because of administrative lapses for which the students should not be charged.

"There is no logic to charge at all for correcting the mistakes committed by the university administration in the mark sheets and documents. But the university is considering it as an opportunity for resource generation," Jha said.

He said that in recent years, the university had been increasing student fees in various categories after the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Centre asked the universities to increase their resource generation.

In December 2021, the DU executive council decided to increase the annual university development fee (UDF) by 50 per cent to meet its necessary expenses as the UGC had drastically reduced its laboratory grants.

Previously, the university charged each student ₹600 per year as the UDF, but it has now increased to ₹900.

According to the agenda note of the EC meeting of December 2021: “The UGC is not releasing sufficient capital grant to the university for lab equipment/other equipment for the last 3 to 4 years and in the current financial year allocated a sum of ₹1.25 crore only. With this very small amount, the university is not able to purchase even as single lab equipment for the departments.”

The university has introduced the UG Curriculum Framework (UGCF) for a four-year duration with multiple exit options. Under the existing passing and promotion rules, the students of DU have to pass 50 per cent of papers in the first year to be able to get a promotion to the second year in undergraduate courses.

Under the UGCF, there are seven papers in a semester, including three discipline-specific courses (DSC) and a general elective (GE). The DSC and GE papers carry four credits each. In addition, the student has to pursue an ability enhancement course (AEC), skill enhancement course (SEC) and value addition course (VAC) of two credits each.

If the existing pass formula is continued, a student has to clear seven papers in two semesters. A student can get the promotion by passing in six papers of AEC, SEC and VAC and GE paper without clearing any discipline paper.

The university had set up a committee to study this loophole. The committee recommended that a student should acquire at least 28 out of 44 credits from both semesters to get a promotion. The AC will consider this proposal too.