The University of Delhi is all set to welcome over 62,000 students from across the country for the new academic session 2023-24, starting from August 16.
According to the university administration, almost all seats have been filled up with the concerned authority considering the need for launching a third round for allocation in undergraduate programmes. The second merit list was released on August 10.
However, this year, the science courses have not garnered much demand, with seats still lying vacant.
For undergraduate aspirants, around 71,000 seats for 78 undergraduate programmes and 198 BA programme combinations in 68 colleges of DU were for grabs. Out of these, a total of 62000 have already been occupied. The maximum number of applications have been received for Hansraj College, Ramjas College and Dyal Singh College. BCom (Hons), BCom, BA (Hons) Political Science, BA (Hons) Economics and BA (Hons) English are the top five most preferred courses this year, as per official data.
After round one of the allocation, the varsity said that only a few seats were left vacant in the North Campus colleges. In Kirorimal College, the commerce and arts programmes have only a couple of vacant seats, while seats are full in other categories. Several seats are vacant in BSc (Hons) Mathematics and BSc (Hons) Botany. Similarly, in Miranda House, most of the seats were filled in the first round alone.
Most admissions at 5 colleges
The top five colleges that saw maximum admissions are Dyal Singh College, Hansraj College, Gargi College, Ramjas College and Kirorimal College, data reveals. The majority of the vacancies are available off-campus and in some colleges of the South Campus in Sanskrit and science courses, including Chemistry, Physics, and Electronics.
At Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, 14 seats are open for Botany BSc (Hons), 31 for Computer Science, 32 for Electronics, 27 for Mathematics, and 33 for Physics. Additionally, there are 17 and 12 open seats in BSc (Hons) Zoology and Life Sciences, respectively.
In Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College 31 seats are vacant in Chemistry while 29 are vacant in Physics. In Daulat Ram College, 12 seats are vacant in Botany. In Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, 20 seats in Chemistry and 30 seats in Physics are vacant.
In Deshbandhu College, 19 seats in Chemistry and 33 seats in Physics are vacant. 31 seats in Physics at Hansraj College, 28 seats of Physics at Hindu College, 16 seats of Physics in Kalindi College, 32 seats of Physics in Kirorimal College, 34 seats of Chemistry in Ramjas College, 21 seats of Physics in Sri Venkateswara College and 13 seats of Physics in St Stephen’s College are vacant as per DU’s list.
In CUET 2022-23, BCom (Hons) and BCom were the most sought-after courses with over 1 lakh students showing interest in both. Singh said, “The most sought-after course was BCom (Hons) where 1.30 lakh students showed interest, and the second was B.Com pass course with 1,26,239 students showing interest. This means B.Com is the flagship programme of the University of Delhi and many students want to join this programme.”
New courses this year
The University of Delhi had announced the opening of registration for admissions to Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) programmes for the academic session 2023-24. From this session, DU is introducing three newly-designed B.Tech courses, namely B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering, B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering and B.Tech in Electrical Engineering.
The university’s School of Open Learning (SOL) has introduced two new undergraduate programmes this year: BA programme in psychology and computer applications. It has introduced six new professional courses including MBA, BBA in financial investment analysis, Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS), BA (Honors) economics, Bachelor of Library and Information Sciences (BLISc), and MLISc.
Meanwhile, the Cluster Innovation Centre has also invited applications for admission to three new Certificates Courses for the academic year 2023-24, namely:
Also, the Faculty of Law at the University of Delhi is set to offer a new opportunity for aspiring law students with the introduction of five-year integrated law courses for the academic year 2023-2024. The university will now be offering Bachelor of Arts (BA) LLB (Hons.) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) LLB (Hons) programmes, providing students with a pathway to pursue their passion for law early in their academic journey.
The Bar Council of India has already granted its approval for offering 60 seats each in BA LLB (Hons) and BBA LLB (Hons) courses. As per the University administration, the aspiring candidates will be admitted to these integrated law courses based on their performance in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) UG 2023. The students enrolled in BA LLB (Hons) and BBA LLB (Hons) courses will attend classes at the Faculty of Law, situated in the iconic Kanad Bhawan, North Campus of the University of Delhi.
Age no bar under CES
In addition to the courses added to the University academic for the session 2023-24, DU also introduced Competency Enhancement Scheme (CES), a one of a kind course offering any group of citizens to take admission in the central University.
As per Vice-Chancellor Professor Yogesh Singh, any person who fulfils the specified eligibility criteria and prerequisites for an existing course can register for a course, subject to the availability of seats. Applicants below the age of 60 years will be admitted on the basis of essential qualification of the course. Admission for senior citizens will be on the basis of merit and age, where merit and age will be given 70% and 30% weight respectively.
The number of seats in a course shall be a maximum of 10% of the total class strength of that course or 6 seats, whichever is less. He said that these seats will be considered as additional under CES in any course. “The Vice Chancellor informed that the objective of the scheme is to grow the business of entrepreneurs, improve managerial skills, fulfill educational dreams, empower senior citizens, upgrade artisan skills, build self-confidence through learning with students. To utilize the resources of the university, promote student mobility and enable it to adapt to the professional needs of the society,” an official said.
He said that these seats will be considered as additional under CES in any course. According to DU officials, the admission process, which is largely online, has gone pretty smoothly. “We have not received any complaints or glitches this year. The admission process is going on very smoothly. We are all set to welcome 62,000 students who have already been admitted from August 16 onwards.
Most of the seats are occupied now and some seats in science programmes are vacant this year for some reason but we are still working on that. Final list of allocation will be out soon, said Vikas Gupta, Registrar, Delhi University.
Akshit Dahiyya, president of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) expressed a similar sentiment. “The DUSU and the ABVP together have protested against DU’s former admission process where students never got equal opportunities. Earlier, students coming from states with lenient marking used to get admission in good colleges while others were left behind. However with CUET in place, the admission process has been smooth and we feel proud to see that all students gets the same opportunity. We had launched a multilingual helpline for the students staying in remote villages to help them. There was no major complaint this year.”
There was some criticism of the system from certain quarters, however. “The admission procedure of CSAS is opaque and not student friendly. It was not technically designed for those students staying in remote areas where they don’t have much access to the internet or even computers. Earlier there used to be a cut-off system which used to offer a basket of choices in terms of colleges and courses as well. However, now the new system has been forcing the students to become great gamblers. There are a lot of problems in this system and students are still unclear about it,” said Rajesh Jha, a former member of the university’s Executive Council (EC).
New vistas now open for students
Besides new BTech courses started by the university this year, SOL has introduced several new programmes. The Faculty of Law has launched five-year integrated law courses for the academic year 2023-2024
NEW COURSES
DU SOL Courses -23
Faculty of Law
Cluster Centre
Three new Certificates Courses for the academic year 2023-24:
Admission to CES
Commerce, political science favoured
The maximum applications have been received for Hansraj College, Ramjas College and Dyal Singh College. BCom (Hons), BCom, BA (Hons) Political Science, BA (Hons) Economics and BA (Hons) English are the top five most preferred courses this year, as per official data released by the University of Delhi.
LAGS Behind jnu, jmi in ranking
The University of Delhi demonstrated a slight progress in the 2023 edition of the National Institutional Ranking Framework, advancing two positions and securing the 11th rank among universities. As per NIRF, DU is ranked behind the JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia, which retained the second and third positions respectively under the university category.
University of Delhi has introduced a number of new courses this year which significantly add to the bouquet of courses it offers to students, giving them an opportunity to pursue careers in their chosen fields, writes Ifrah Mufti