UGC's Special Assistance Programmes
The Department of English of the University of Delhi was selected, in recognition of its high academic standards, for the Special Assistance Programmes of the University Grants Commission since 1994. After successful completion of the earlier stages of this programme, the Department has recently been placed under the scheme “Department of Special Assistance – Phase II.” Thrust areas of the programme include: Modernity Studies, Late Eighteenth Century and Early Nineteenth Century Studies, Literature in Translation, New literatures in English, Literature and Media (Film & Visual arts), and Renaissance Studies.
In 2005, the Department was also invited by the University Grants Commission to apply for funding under the ASIHSS programme, and grants were subsequently awarded to the Department for the period from 2006 to 2011.
The DSA and ASIHSS programmes have given significant support to the Department’s academic efforts in the thrust areas: they have enabled the creation of a Departmental Library with a growing collection of books, the organization of seminars and annual conferences, regular visits by renowned academics from India and abroad, and the publication of the Department’s yearly journal and occasional papers. In addition, the grants have also helped the Department enhance its infrastructural facilities. The Department has, among other things, created a computer room for use by students where electronic journals subscribed to by the University can easily be accessed, and a media room with projection facilities, used frequently in the teaching of courses with a visual arts content and for seminars and talks.