NEW DELHI: While students and experts were divided over the high cut-off marks announced by the colleges affiliated to Delhi University for admission to undergraduate courses, the heads of leading colleges in the city said they had no other option but increase the cut-off to prevent over-admissions.
Cancellation of board exams, assessment-based results declared by the CBSE and more than 20,000 students with 100 per cent marks in the best of four subjects seem to have forced the colleges to announce high cut-off. Six popular colleges affiliated to the university have announced 100 per cent cut-off in the first cut-off list released on Friday.
Manoj Khanna, principal, Ramjas College, which announced 100 per cent cut-off for BSc Physics (Honors) said, “At least 14,500 students registered in our college have scored 100 per cent in the best of four subjects. Of this, 7,000 alone are for BA Political Science (Honors). So, this is one of the major reasons for high cut-offs this year. Further, total seats available in the north campus are 1,500. Hence, colleges had to take precautions in order to avoid over-admissions.”
According to Khanna, the expectation on admission by colleges has ended for the year and it cannot go beyond 100 per cent. “In the coming days, when the colleges will be reopened, they have to maintain social distancing as well. Hence, we have to look at all the possibilities. We can’t admit 500 students against 50 seats. How social distancing will be followed with limited infrastructure and teachers? The varsity should have come up with a policy to avoid this problem but it hadn’t, so the college had to take precautions.”
Simrit Kaur, principal of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), which announced 100 per cent cut-off for its only two courses — BCom (Honors) and BA Economics — said, “SRCC is one of the popular colleges for commerce subjects. Also, it offers only two courses with limited seats, so it always stays in limelight. After, thorough analysis of the number of students applied and how many scored centum, we decided to announce 100 per cent cut-off as we don’t want over-admissions.”
Besides the admission, several city colleges have also raised the issue of lack of infrastructure and shortage of teaching staff. The NIRF and NAAC ranking have also become the reasons behind the high cut-off as the teacher-student ratio is also considered in the ranking by the Union Ministry of Education.
NSUI launches helpline for aspiring candidates
Congress-affiliated NSUI on Friday launched a helpline number to address queries of students about the admissions process in the Delhi University. Releasing the helpline number — 9268030030. The students’ organisation has also deployed its volunteers at the university to help students who are in need of guidance.
Long wait is over
The admission process will start from October 4 and go on till November 16
seats - 70,000
Infra issues, staff shortage reasons
Besides the admission, several colleges have also raised the issue of lack of infrastructure and shortage of teaching staff. The NIRF and NAAC ranking have also become the reasons behind the high cut-off as the teacher-student ratio is also considered in the rankings
63 Colleges
more than 2 lakh Students applied
more than 30,000 Students scored 100 per cent in best of four subjects