Delhi University has approved guidelines for the conduct of research by the first batch of students in the final year of their four-year undergraduate programme without making any provision for funding and infrastructure.

The university’s academic council on Saturday cleared a policy for the supervision of research undertaken by the students.

DU is among the first few institutions in the country to roll out the four-year UG course, encouraged by the National Education Policy 2020.

Under the research supervision policy, the students will have to write dissertations, do academic projects or take part in entrepreneurship programmes in any organisation under the supervision of a mentor.

At Saturday’s meeting, 12 members — including four from the Democratic Teachers’ Front — submitted dissent notes on the policy, citing additional responsibility on already stressed faculty members without counting these activities under workload or taking into account the lack of infrastructure and poor funding.

At present, the colleges under DU do not have adequate labs and facilities to guide a large number of students engaged in research activities. Also, the students need funds to pursue their research projects. The university has chosen to bank on the college student welfare fund, industry-academic collaborations, corporate social responsibility initiatives and alumni contributions.

The policy mandates every faculty member to supervise up to 10 students. The research committee of the college may decide to increase the number of students assigned to a supervisor with appropriate justification.

Rudrashish Chakraborty, an associate professor at Kirori Mal College, said the provision for supervising 10 students would severely undermine the quality of research as it is impossible for any teacher to do justice to the research work of so many students.

“No funds have been allotted for research work in the fourth year. The colleges are left to fend for themselves and are being advised to mobilise funds through the students’ welfare funds instead,” he added.