The Delhi University has issued a notification stating that MPhil will be discontinued from the next academic session in line with the National Education Policy 2020. The university will be implementing the policy from 2022-23.
However, a section of teachers criticised the move to discontinue the degree, saying it will be disadvantageous for students who are not economically strong and even for women.
In a notification issued on January 27, the varsity said MPhil programmes being run in various departments of the University of Delhi will be discontinued from 2022-23 in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. There won't be any new admissions to MPhil programmes while students who are already enrolled will continue to study the course, according to a university official.
Former Executive Council member Abha Dev Habib said, "NEP-2020 is all about widening the gap between the haves and have nots. Either commit to doing a PhD or remain without a research degree. The NEP, which is floating on advertisement of 'choice', is taking away real choices which students had. Students with disadvantageous backgrounds looked up to MPhil as a research degree they could afford before going towards teaching jobs."
"This degree (MPhil) is being discontinued not because of any organic need of the system but because of NEP-2020," she said.
Ms Habib said as opposed to PhD, MPhil is a short-term research degree for students, which provides them an exposure to research work and adds to their curriculum vitae. Social scientists believe that students with MPhil did better in their PhDs, she said.
JNU professor Ayesha Kidwai, in a Facebook post, said there is a gender dimension to the MPhil abolition as well. She said that since 2012–2013 MPhil, enrolment has consistently had a majority of women, currently verging on about 60 per cent. "This is also the one degree that the NEP-2020 recommends must be eliminated from the education system, with immediate effect, without any pretence even at consultation with stakeholders," Ms Kidwai said.
"MPhil. is often the only research degree that women (as well as other disadvantaged sections) can pursue... PhD degrees require an investment of time and a loss of earnings that patriarchal society lets only a few afford – and the need for its immediate abolition is difficult to fathom," she said.
Questioning the rationale behind the discontinuation of MPhil, she said the announcement signals how women's participation in formulating and studying research questions and in the labour force of the education sector is of little significance to educational policy-makers.
Academic Council member Mithuraaj Dhusiya said that the MPhil course, over several generations, has played an important role in the Delhi University and other Indian universities in developing research aptitude through robust course work and introduction to higher research.
"MPhil research degree has been a degree by itself separate from and at the same time above Master's degree. It is extremely unfortunate that the NEP-2020 discontinues MPhil," he added.
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