NEW DELHI: To combat the declining enrollment, the Delhi University has opened its postgraduate doors to candidates with zero and even negative marks in its entrance exam for the first time. Official data from the 2025 admissions cycle reveal a startling dip in cut-offs across several PG courses, including flagship programmes like MA, MSc, and MCom.
Once fiercely competitive, these courses are now admitting students with scores as low as -3, as seen in Hansraj College’s MSc Chemistry cut-off for the C2-SC category.
MA Persian (UR category) recorded a cut-off of -19, later raising it to 23 in round two. MA Buddhist Studies maintained a cut-off of -10 across both rounds. Similarly, MA Russian and MA Commerce (PWD category) had zero cut-offs, indicating open entry regardless of performance.
Dr Vikas Gupta, Registrar Delhi University, claimed that the data pertains to the SC/ST category alone. He said, “The data where the cut-offs have gone in negatives is for the SC/ST category. “We are just trying to fill the seats, considering the fact that the students are meeting the criteria. It didn’t happen in the past two CUET exams, but this time, it did. There is no reason. The SC/ST students must have gone somewhere else, and CUET is just a screening,” Gupta said.
However, the data collected from the Delhi University’s official website indicates that there are a lot of courses where the cut-off went into negative numbers for the unreserved category too.
The MA Persian department admitted students in the unreserved category with a cut-off -19 marks in round 1, then the MA Buddhist Studies department also set its un reserved cut-off at -10.
General secretary of Democratic Teachers Front Abha Dev Habib said, “The admission standards undermine the credibility of the institution.”