New Delhi, April 16 -- Delhi University's academic council (AC) on Wednesday approved a proposal to offer students the option of earning 5% of their total credits from SWAYAM and other Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms, despite objections of members. The plan, as well as a new "Semester Away Program" (SAP), need to be approved by the executive council (EC), which will meet on April 29. Elected members stated that as they were in the minority as compared to nominated members, the proposals were passed despite their protests. They said the move could jeopardise the quality of the students' education. "The online course is allowed to have a variation of up to 40% from what is being taught in the university. This is worrying as even discipline specific core courses and discipline specific electives fall under the ambit of the proposal. Are we teachers expected to go over every MOOC course to ensure its quality?" asked Kamla Nehru College associate professor Monami Sinha while speaking to HT. "Right now it's 5%, but tomorrow it may increase," she added. Referring to the proposal suggestion that bridge courses or additional learning components may be recommend to ensure alignment with the prescribed learning and credits, Maya John, assistant professor at Jesus and Mary College, said, "Who will be making the bridge courses except for us teachers? This is additional work." "These courses can be offered as supplementary, but can't be a substitute for classroom lessons," said Anumeha Mishra, professor at the Faculty of Law. Members said the meeting was adjourned as they were sharing their concerns. The DU administration said the meeting concluded in a routine manner. The proposal, which HT has seen, said the option would be open to students across undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD courses and every department will constitute a panel to identify and recommend suitable courses available on Digital Learning Platforms (DLPs). Under the students will have the opportunity to complete one semester of their academic programme at a Foreign Higher Education Institution (FHEI). "Once approved, we expect to launch it in the 2026-27 academic session," said DU Registrar Vikas Gupta....