DU ends admissions under first list, 41,000 students secure seats

University of Delhi (DU) today informed that admissions under the first cut-off list have closed with a total of 41,211 candidates securing seats. Admissions were open for roughly 70,000 undergraduate seats in DU in the first list.

According to university authorities, 31,172 seats have been secured by students from CBSE; 2,365 from the Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education; 1,540 from Board of School Education, Haryana; 1,429 from CISCE; and 1,301 from the Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan. The remaining seats have gone to students from various other state boards. 

Applications

The total number of registered applicants was the highest from CBSE at 2,29,264. The Kerala board had the fifth-highest number of applicants at 4,824, Haryana had been second highest at 9,918, while Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations saw the third highest at 9,659 and Rajasthan had been the sixth highest at 4,789.

Regional skew

While handing out the information, the university added that it has not been favouring students of any board. In a press release, DU registrar Vikas Gupta said, “Being a central university, the University of Delhi equally and uniformly values academic credentials of all candidates irrespective of their States and School Boards. This year too, equal opportunity was maintained by accepting applications based on merit only. The University of Delhi strongly refutes and condemns the falsity of news which is being circulated regarding favouring candidates from a few boards. Being a prestigious central university with a long legacy of quality teaching and research, candidates across the country aspire to study in our colleges, departments, and centres. It is our utmost responsibility to maintain justice and equity to all meritorious candidates coming not only from Indian states but also from abroad.”

As students from across India flock to DU for admission into its various undergraduate programmes, the university is facing a challenge in admitting students from various school boards solely based on cut-off percentages since the university has no entrance exam.

Colleges such as Shri Ram College of Commerce, Ramjas College, Hindu College and Hansraj College that released a 100 per cent cut-off for admission to some of its courses have seen general category seats fill up as students from the Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education have secured many of the seats with a best-four subjects’ score of 100 per cent.

On day 1, the process was halted for a few hours in the afternoon after concerns were raised on whether class XI marks should be included in calculating the percentage of students from some state boards. In Kerala, the state school board uses the student’s performance in class XI and class XII to arrive at the final board result while DU only considers the student’s class XII performance for admission. Some teachers and colleges had raised concerns over this and had requested that the class XI marks be included to act as “a scaling mechanism”.

In Kerala, the state school board uses the student’s performance in class XI and class XII to arrive at the final board result. DU, on the other hand, only considers the class XII performance for admission. Some sections had requested that the class XI marks be included to act as “a scaling mechanism”.

After a meeting, the central admissions team decided there has to be a universal principle to calculate marks of all students, and since other boards like CBSE only go by class XII, only class XII marks should be counted.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has also protested at the admission office of DU. Siddharth Yadav from ABVP said his organisation is demanding a process of “moderation” to ensure there is no regional skew in admissions.

DU authorities also met ABVP representatives after their protest. Registrar Gupta said, “We had a discussion and listened to their concerns. We are seeking legal opinion on whether we can change our admission criteria, but it does not seem likely that it will be possible in this admission cycle.”