Delhi University opposes admission policy of St Stephen's College

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has opposed St Stephen's College's decision to give 85 per cent weightage to Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and 15 percent to interviews for admission across categories, saying it will be treated as "null and void".

The University of Delhi said it will write to the college to withdraw its recently issued prospectus which mentions the 85:15 weightage formula, else such admissions will be not acceptable to the DU. The prospectus for the college's undergraduate courses 2022-23 stated, "St Stephen's College will adopt the CUET as the eligibility criteria with 85 per cent weightage for CUET and the college's interview for shortlisted candidates with a weightage of 15 per cent." It had stated the same thing in its admission notice posted on its website last month. College principal John Varghese did not respond to calls and texts from PTI.

This comes even as Delhi University has asked the college to conduct admission to unreserved seats using CUET. The university has said that interviews should only be conducted for reserved category students. "We will write to the college that the step taken by it is wrong and the prospectus should be withdrawn immediately," Delhi University Registrar Vikas Gupta told PTI. "If not withdrawn, and you (the college) conduct any admission based on this, the university will not accept it and they will be treated as null and void," he said.

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Gupta said Delhi University will also issue a statement, advising students to refrain from applying to the courses in the college. The DU had written to the college stating that they will have to follow the Executive Council resolution of conducting admissions to general seats based on the CUET scores. St Stephen's College has, however, conveyed to the university that it reserves the right to proceed with admissions according to its own policy guaranteed to it as a minority institution.

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