DU Admission 2021: 15 colleges to start new courses adding over 600 seats

NEW DELHI: Fifteen Delhi University colleges will start new undergraduate programmes and two colleges will increase their intake in existing courses. Taken together, they will add over 600 seats to the existing 69,554 seats offered by DU colleges for DU admission 2021.

The new launches, already approved by DU’s standing committee on new courses, now await the green signal from the university’s highest statutory body, the executive council. The EC is scheduled to meet on August 31.

Along with the new courses, the forthcoming EC meeting also has major decisions on its agenda -- discussion and passing of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) for implementation from 2022 and the transfer of the Delhi College of Arts from DU to the Delhi Government-run university, Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD).

The DU admission process for undergraduate courses began on August 2 and registration will continue till August 31. First DU cut-off 2021 is expected by October 1.

DU Admission 2021: More seats

The intake capacity of BA Programme course in Hansraj College will be expanded from 50 to 80 seats and seats in BA Sanskrit at Zakir Husain College (Evening) will be increased from 15 to 40.

With an intake of 30 students each, Hansraj College will offer BA (Hons) Hindi Journalism, colleges like Dayal Singh College (Evening), Shyam Lal College, Janaki Devi Memorial College and Bharati College which will start BSc Computer Science from the next academic year. Ramanujan College will start a BSc in operational research course as well.

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Other colleges like Deshbandhu College, Bharati College Aditi Mahavidyalaya will start undergraduate degree courses with 40 seats each. Vivekananda College will start offering MA English with a batch of 12 students. PGDAV college (Evening) will start offering BA English and MA Hindi with 40 and 16 seats respectively.

NEP 2020 from 2022

The EC will also discuss the implementation of the NEP 2020, passed in the Academic Council earlier this week after much resistance from teachers’ groups.

The new programme will require students to study two languages and literature courses, one of which must be an Indian language. Other mandatory subjects like social and emotional learning, innovation and entrepreneurship have been added.

Courses like IT Skills, Data Analysis and Mathematics, Science and Society are also part of the new structure. The students in the new structure will also have to take up co-curricular activities like music, art, gardening, sports, etc as well.

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Students will have to earn 148 credits for a three year undergraduate degree, 100 credits for a two year diploma, and 48 credits for a one-year certificate. For a four year degree, students will have to earn 196 credits. Students who will opt for the fours year honours with research option will need to complete a thesis or an internship in their final year.

The DU undergraduate programme will be turned into a four-year undergraduate programme with multiple entry and exit options. However, the three year degree programme will be assimilated into its structure of four years honours degree with one-year research. Meanwhile the MPhil programme will be discontinued from next academic year.

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The university’s NEP implementation committee report has proposed introducing several new courses to be added to the existing programmes by next year. Two language and literature courses, courses on social and emotional learning, innovation and entrepreneurship are a part of the new structure. However, several teachers have raised concerns against the implementation of these recommendations.

College of Arts and DU

Furthermore, amid opposition from members of the academic council of DU, one of the oldest institutions affiliated with DU, College of Arts will be merged with Ambedkar University, Delhi. The new college will be renamed AUD School of Fine Arts after merger. The Delhi Institute of Heritage and Management, affiliated with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University will also be integrated with AUD.

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The decision to merge the College of Arts has received strong opposition from the DU Teachers’ Association and few members of the academic council. In a letter addressed to the VC, DUTA called the decision a “violation of DU Act” and which leads to “dismemberment” of the university. The college’s merger with AUD has also been approved by the Delhi Government.

Struggling to meet the admission requirements in various programmes and scholarships, the principal of the College of Arts had requested its de-affiliation in July. In a letter addressed to the acting Vice-Chancellor, the principal, B.S. Chauhan alleged of “stepmotherly” treatment from DU. The college has been struggling with teachers’ recruitment with more than 100 posts lying vacant.

Some of the courses offered, the statement states, do not fall under the guidelines of either All India Council of Technical Education or University Grants Commission which poses administrative difficulties.

The AUD also offers similar courses and will provide a multidisciplinary setup as proposed in NEP 2020. The proposed college will run exchange programmes with international colleges and promote the skill India mission.

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