New Delhi: After being under scathing attacks over the Four-year degree programme (FYUP), Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh stepped down from his post on Tuesday. Singh had been adamant on not scrapping the four-year course notwithstanding the UGC order.
The resignation of Singh has come two days after the varsity was asked by UGC to roll back the controversial four-year course. Singh was known for his networking abilities and had direct access to the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which helped him implement some of his pet projects like the controversial FYUP. But with a change of guards in New Delhi, Singh’s luck ran out and his departure seemed imminent.
Matters came to a head when UGC gave an ultimatum to DU and its affiliated colleges to give up the four-year course and revert to its old three-year structure. They were asked to comply with the order by Monday. However, the principals of the colleges affiliated to DU met on Monday and decided to defer this year’s admissions which were to start on Tuesday.
Singh was appointed Vice-Chancellor on October 29, 2010. He started his career as Lecturer at St Stephen’s College in 1981. Thereafter he joined Department of Mathematics, University of Delhi in 1987. His area of specialisation includes Functional analysis, Operator Theory, and Harmonic analysis. He is adjunct professor at the University of Houston and has also taught at IIT Delhi, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
He did his BA Hons (Maths) followed by MA (Maths) in 1977 from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, followed by M Phil (Maths) from University of Delhi in 1978. He did PhD in Maths from Imperial College, London in 1981.  Singh holds numerous honorary doctorates to his credit – awarded by University of Edinburgh, NIT, Kurukshetra, and University College Cork, Ireland.
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