Semester system opens doors to exchange programmes with foreign universities

With the semester system now in place for all courses,a full-fledged exchange programme is now in the pipeline. “Work to put in place a credit-transfer system can now start at the University-level,but we need to obtain approval from the University Grants Commission and the Home Ministry,” Deepa Gupta,Technical Officer at the University’s International Relations office,said.

“The credit transfer system will hopefully be ready in two years time and in that case,the new UG students will be able to go on exchange when they reach their final year,” said Ms. Gupta. “We were unable to send students on exchange till now as all our courses ran in the annual mode,while almost all foreign varsities follow semester mode,” she said.

While DU currently sends students abroad on short-term programmes,exchanges involve much more interaction,said Prof. K Srinivas,Dean of International Relations (Science and Technology). Exchanges are much longer and involve making financial arrangements,finding matching courses for DU students at foreign Universities among other things,he said. “These and credit transfer systems have to be carefully worked out with individual universities before exchange,” he said.

In October,DU will send 10-12 students to universities in Australia on a short visit orientation programme.

Meanwhile,the University held an orientation programme on Tuesday for foreign under-graduate students who are in the varsity for exchange programmes this session. Twenty-five students from University of California,along with a few students from Universities in Finland and Germany attended the orientation programme. University of California sends the maximum number of students to DU on exchange every year.