The admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Delhi University (DU) may begin from May 1, after a delay of around 15 days from the earlier announced schedule, as the university’s admission committee is still working on the changes it would make in the process. The DU admission committee, on March 15, had announced that it would start the registration process on April 15 and it would end by on May 7.
Rajeev Gupta, chairperson of the admission committee, Wednesday said, “We will most probably start the registration process from May 1 as we are yet to complete the preparations. We will come up with the revised schedule once we are ready with our changed policies and procedures.”
According to a special invitee to the DU’s admission committee, the committee members have not reached a consensus over several proposed changes. “Several members raised objections to the distribution of marks in sports and extracurricular activities (ECA) category. The committee had proposed to fix the distribution at 5% of all seats for these quotas combined. Currently, it varies from college to college. While some college fixes it at 2.5% of all seats, other may reserve a high percentage for one or the other. Any such decision has to be passed through the academic and executive councils. The admission committee cannot decide it,” the member, who wished not to be named, said.
Colleges across DU have to reserve 5% seats for students under the sports and ECA quota together in each course.
Another committee member said the registration process is being delayed as the university has been working to get the database of students registered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). “If we get the database of students, we will be able to get their mark sheets and certificates directly. There will be a lot more transparency. The due process of getting the database is still underway,” the member said.
DU’s admission committee has already announced some changes to be introduced from academic session 2019-20 such as reducing marks for a change of stream from 5% to 2% and starting the ECA and sports quota admissions ahead of the release of cut-off lists.
A senior DU official said that it’s better to start the registration process for admissions late. “We will only be able to start admissions after the CBSE results, which won’t be declared before the third week of May. So there is no point of starting the registration early,” he said.
This year, the university’s admission committee is considering the introduction of several “student friendly” initiatives — such as giving opportunity to candidates to edit their forms after submission. It may also cap the number of times a candidate can change their college choice during the admission process.The Delhi University had earlier also said that it would introduce online entrance-based process for admission in all undergraduate courses from 2019-20.
However, the admission committee later dropped the plan saying it will need a lot of planning before switching to the online entrance exam for admission in its 63 colleges.
