DU academic council approves PG admissions through CUET

NEW DELHI: Delhi University's (DU) Academic Council approves the switch from existing post graduate (PG) entrance test to the Common University Entrance Test-PG (CUET PG) for the next DU admission cycle.

This method will only be applicable to half of the seats, while the other half of admissions will remain under merit basis for internal DU students. The council decided this in the meeting held today with agenda including syllabi for the second semester of various undergraduate courses and a hike in PhD thesis submission fee, and the introduction of CUET-PG into the admission cycle.

A ten-member committee was created to suggest strategies for PG admissions in 2023-24. Under the current DU PG admissions system, 50% of the admissions are don directly for students who have completed their bachelor's degree from DU based on their merit.

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“Admission to all postgraduate courses will be carried out through a single-window mechanism, where CUET-PG will be conducted by the National Testing Agency as it is done for other central universities for all categories of candidates,” the committee statement states according to Hindustan Times.

Following this decision, the faculties will be required to prepare new specific eligibility conditions based on their respective department and subjects as the CUET will be conducted separately for each programme and the merit list will be prepared programme wise according to the requirements.

"While preparing the Merit List, priority will be defined as follows: The erstwhile category of candidates who used to seek admissions through Postgraduate Entrance Test will comprise the first 50 per cent of the seats and will include the candidates who qualify in this Common University Entrance Test depending upon his/her eligibility for appearing in the test under this category," the committee has recommended.

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The council also approved a Rs 2,500 hike in PhD thesis evaluation fee from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,500 for students with a fellowship and raising the total fee for students without a fellowship to Rs 5,500. Previously, students had to pay Rs 500 for a thesis submission certificate and provisional certificate. This is is now being increased to Rs 750 each and will be submitted along with the thesis submission fee.

In addition to this, the academic council passed the resolution seeking to increase the number of students in a class to accommodate all admissions. Six members dissented against it saying the move will impact the quality of education. The DU batch size has increased significantly where there are 60 students per batch for lectures, 30 for tutorials and 25 for practical classes in undergraduate programmes. While for postgraduate courses, the numbers per batch are 50, 25 and 15-20 respectively.

A total of 66 universities, including central, state and private universities, had opted for the CUET PG exam for admissions. Delhi University was among the universities that have opted out of this entrance test and are conducting admissions to the PG courses will continue as per the existing processes.

(Inputs from PTI)