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The Delhi University Dream: Decoded

With cut-throat competition because of unprecedented number of aspirants fighting to secure a seat in their favourite course and/or their favourite colleges, we look at the pressing factors affecting admissions to the country’s most-popular varsity

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With innumerable dreams and aspirations, 16-year-old Ranjini Kumari had come all the way from Dhanbad in Jharkhand to enrol in her dream course, History, at the Delhi University (DU) on the very first day of the admission season this year. Daughter of a daily wager, Kumari had scored 75 per cent marks in her Class 12 examinations, the highest ever in her family so far. She wants to become a civil servant, and to fulfil that dream, she thinks, DU is the best platform for her.

Angrezi ka zamana hai. Humne socha ke yahaan se achhi padhai aur Angrezi kaha seekh payegi (It’s all about the English language these days. We thought where else could she learn English and education than DU),” said her father Jaipal Kumar. They got her registration done with the help of a local cyber café in Dhanbad. 

On the first two days of admissions, the father-daughter duo visited several colleges only to learn that Kumari’s percentage couldn’t get her the course of her choice. “It’s a mad race out here. This is the first time in my family that someone has scored such a high percentage and still, she can’t get admission in the course of her choice. They are saying that we should get her enrolled in any other course under the non-creamy layer quota. Why should my daughter compromise and end up studying anything like that?” asked a disappointed Kumar to an official at Ramjas College, as Kumari stood quietly next to him donning a yellow salwar kameez. They picked up the copies of their certificates lying on the official’s desk and left. “We will get her enrolled in a course of her choice back home,” he said. However, Ranjini was not too convinced by her father’s decision.

Ranjini is one among the thousands of bright and talented youngsters who dream of studying at Delhi University but aren’t as fortunate as the handful who actually enrol in the course and college of their choice.

With the number of applicants increasing with each passing year, the gap between the demand and the supply has widened. And, the soaring cut-off percentages make the competition even tougher.

For instance, this year, around 2.8 lakh applications were received for the 56,000-odd undergraduate seats at 63 colleges. However, it is the course-wise data on applications that make the competition fiercer. In the case of History, as many as 92,011 students had applied for the course which has 2,100 available seats. “This means at least 43 students are competing for one seat in the subject. The competition is even tougher in courses such as Economics, English, BCom and BA (Prog). Everybody wants to pursue these courses, and with thousands of students scoring above 95 per cent in Class 12 every year, the cut-off percentages are consistently high. The university has its own limitations too,” Gurpreet Tuteja, Deputy Dean Students Welfare.


Demand vs Supply 

Till academic session 2016-17, the Delhi University had 54,000 undergraduate seats. The number then increased to 56,000 after 19 colleges introduced new courses. However, officials at the university say that there has been no actual increase in number. “In 2016, after the University’s Academic and Executive Councils approved the colleges’ decision to start new courses, the proposal had reached the University Grants Commission (UGC) for its nod.

The Commission had denied providing extra funds for these courses and suggested to run these on self-financing mode. Hence, several colleges could not start the courses. And, the colleges that did, had actually adjusted within their sanctioned strength. The addition of 2,000 seats is just notional,” said Rajesh Jha, a member of the Executive Council, which is the highest decision-making body of the university, and a professor at Rajdhani College.  

Under the controversial Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), several colleges had started new courses that were withdrawn in 2014. “Several colleges had started new courses by accommodating existing number of seats. With the rolling back of FYUP, these courses ceased to exist, hence freeing up the seats,” Jha said. 

Officials at the administration also confirmed that the figure of 56,000 seats is just notional and not official. “There is no count of the number of increased seats. Some colleges are yet to start the courses,” a senior official familiar with the development said.

The huge gap between the demand and the supply makes the admission process more strenuous at DU. This year, the toughest competition is for courses such as Journalism (Hons), BCom (Hons) and Psychology (Hons) wherein hundreds of students are competing for one seat. “I want to pursue Psychology at any college of DU, but there are only 475 seats for the course and most of them are in women’s colleges. Despite scoring 94 per cent marks, I couldn’t get admission in the course of my choice,” said Rituraj Mukherjee, 17, a resident of Kolkata.

Course vs College

For Shreya Sinha, getting admission in a top-notch college at the university was the only concern. Despite wanting to pursue Economics, the 18-year-old took admission in Sociology course at Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College. “I always dreamt of studying at LSR, but I could not make it to my favourite course here. I had qualified for Sociology (Hons) in the first list, so I promptly enrolled myself in the course. I could not have missed the chance of being an LSR student,” she said.

When asked what next? She said, “I’ll figure out something soon.” And she is not alone, hundreds of students like her chose colleges over courses every year. For instance, Animesh Sharma, a resident of Meerut, always wanted to study at one of the colleges which boasts of a celebrity alumni line up. Having failed to meet the required cut-off for his preferred course — Political Science — he enrolled himself in Hindi (Hons) at Hansraj College. “Everyone back home knows that I got admission in the same college where Shah Rukh Khan had studied,” an exhilarated Sharma said. However, his decision does not make his parents too happy.

To understand this trend of choosing colleges over courses, DNA talked to some officials at the varsity. “This is not a new trend. It has been like this for a very long time. People attach a sense of social status with the name of the college. Everybody wants to study in popular colleges such as LSR, Hindu College, Miranda House and Hansraj College. Even if that means having to let go of the course of their choice. Every year, we organise open-day sessions to counsel students, but this college-over-course preference doesn’t seem to change,” said Ashutosh Bharadwaj, an officer on special duty for admissions. This trend has led to over-admissions in some courses at several popular colleges this year after the first cut-off was announced. 

Other Stumbling Blocks

Getting admission in DU does not put an end to the difficulties of outstation students as it is just the beginning of a new journey altogether. With only 4,300 seats available in the around 19 on-campus hostels across DU, thousands of outstation students are forced to look for private accommodations. Despite the university witnessing student protests demanding more hostels every year, and the issue being one of the main agendas in students union election, nothing concrete has been done from the administration’s end as of yet. 

Daughter of a street vendor in the interiors of Haryana, Preeti had scored 95.5 per cent in the Class 12 examinations. Accompanied by her father, she enrolled in History (Hons) course at a woman’s college in South Delhi under reserved category. However, when her name did not appear in the list of students who got accommodation in the college’s hostel her father got her admission cancelled. They returned home the same day and decided to get her admitted to a local college as the hostel can only accommodate 250 students, and not everyone in need gets an accommodation.

“This is an example of a student suffering because of a negligent and apathetic administration. We have to understand the socio-economic background of the students coming to DU; like Preeti’s family, that has never allowed her to go out alone and also did not have any idea about other colleges. There is a dire need of having a hostel facility for outstation students, especially girls,” said Sangeeta Kumari, a former teacher at Dyal Singh (Evening) College.

In the absence of adequate number of hostels, students have no option but to take up expensive paying guest (PG) accommodations. “I got admission in Kamala Nehru College and since there is no on-campus hostel facility, I have to rent a room in a PG accommodation for Rs 13,000 a month. I don’t know for how long, I will be able to manage this huge an amount. I will have to search for a cheaper accommodation soon,” said Abida Parveen, a resident of Jhansi.

Look Beyond DU

Delhi University is not the last resort for those dreaming of studying in the national Capital. There is another central university — Jamia Millia Islamia — which offers hundreds of undergraduate courses. Besides, there are two state-run universities — Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Ambedkar University — with an ample number of opportunities for students. 

“It is time we start looking beyond DU. There are interesting courses at other universities as well,” said Saurav Shukla, who despite scoring 97 per cent in Class 12 chose not to join DU. He is waiting for Ambedkar University cut-off list that will be announced in the first week of July. The university, which reserves 85 per cent seats for students from Delhi, also has cut-off as high as 98.5 per cent for certain courses.

Hostel Facility for Undergraduate students

18 Colleges with on-campus hostels

3,283 seats for female students

1,067 seats for male students

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