DU Admission 2024: Hundreds miffed at not being called for College of Art’s BFA entrance exam

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of students are miffed at Delhi University’s College of Art administration for not calling them for practical tests even though they have scored higher in the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) than many of those invited.

They alleged that the college administration revised its list of eligible candidates for the exam, changing categories of some candidates from unreserved (UR) category to unreserved-person with disability (UR-PwD) in painting specialisation of the four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) course.

College of Art assigns 50% weightage to CUET scores and 50% to practical tests for admission to BFA in six specialisations. The college considers CUET marks for only two papers – language and general test.

DU admissions, CUET scores, revised cut-offs

Students have alleged that the college released a list where the cut-off for general (UR) category students for BFA painting was 72 marks. However, when some students, who had scored higher but were not listed, raised concerns, the college altered the list.

“In the list that was initially released by the college administration on August 16, the last candidate from UR category who was called for the practical exam had scored 72 marks in CUET-UG 2024 and I have scored 102. When I went to the college, there were several others from the UR category who had more than 72 marks. When we asked the college to tell us the reason for not calling us for practicals, they showed us a revised list in which the last candidate from UR category who was called for the practical exam had scored 162 marks in CUET-UG 2024 as they changed the category of UR to UR-PwD,” said a candidate who went to College of Art seeking clarification.

However, Sanjeev Kumar, principal of College of Art, denied the allegations and said that there was no revision in the list of eligible candidates. He said the admission process was being carried out in line with the guidelines released by the Delhi University and rules mentioned in admission prospectus 2024-25 available on the official website of the college. “Students are labelling allegations without any proof and logic. We are calling all the eligible students who have applied for admission at our college,” Kumar told Careers360.

College of Art, Delhi admission 2024

College of Arts is among the 12 Delhi government-funded colleges in the national capital. It offers courses from diploma to PhD level.

Admission to undergraduate BFA courses in all six specialisations is based on CUET and the practical test – both carrying equal weightage.

While the total marks of the language and general test is 200 and 250, respectively, the practical test is of 200. According to the schedule, students are being called for practical examinations at the college premises from August 23 to August 25.

For final admission, candidates must score at least 50% in aggregate and 50% in the practical test.

Also read DU Admission 2024: St. Stephen’s, Delhi University clash over ‘single girl child’ quota

College of Art: BFA seats intake

Principal Kumar said that he called all applicants for sculpture, print making and art history for the test.

The distribution of seats across the six BFA specialisations is as below.

Bachelor of Fine Arts: Seat distribution

Course Name	Total seats
BFA Applied Art	88
BFA Art History	22
BFA Painting	44
BFA Print Making	22
BFA Sculpture	17
BFA Visual Communication	22

“We have specified the seat matrix for each course in our admission brochure document. If we have eight seats for the UR category in a course, we will call 56 students (seven times of the seat) in that category for a practical test. The marks of seventh student in that category will be cut-off in the list of eligible students uploaded on the website. If seats go vacant, we will release a second list,” he said.

Students’ allegations

Students have showed up at the College of Arts’ campus on Tilak Marg in central Delhi.

Shiv Kumar, who belongs to UR category and has been continuously trying to get into BFA Painting for the last three years said: “I have scored a total of 100 out of 450 marks in general test and language subject in CUET. They have invited just 300 students for a practical test mostly consisting of those who have no interest in arts and crafts while ignoring the genuine interested art seeking students like me. They altered the eligible candidate list and raised the cut-off in painting course to 162 marks for UR category. When we complained to the DU authorities, they told us that everyone who has applied and cleared CUET has a chance to participate in practical tests, but college authorities are not allowing it. After a protest last year, they allowed everyone to participate in a practical exam and they will be forced to do the same if we protest again.”

Students seeking admission in other specialisations have also alleged that they are not called for practical tests even when they have more marks than the last candidate in the eligible students list who have been called for practical tests.

Prashant Yadav, who belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and is seeking admission in BFA visual communication course, said that he has been practising for the practical exam for the last six months. “I have got 108 in CUET but still my name is not there in the list of eligible students,” he said.

The last candidate who has been called for the practical exam for BFA visual communication in the OBC category has scored 73 marks.

Students have also called for the removal of the CUET exam for admission in the fine arts course.

“I want to ask the authorities why we have to sit for general test and not fine arts in CUET-UG if we are seeking admission in a BFA course? DU also asks us to pay Rs 400 on Common Seats Allocation System (CSAS) but we are not called for practicals even when we have genuine interest in arts,” said Sumit Kumar, another student.

Another candidate, Harsh Kumar of UR category, who scored 160 marks in CUET said genuine students' careers are in limbo as the college administration is calling those who are not willing to study arts. “Only a handful of students are visiting college for practicals. College will be left with vacant seats,” he said.

Also read DU NCWEB first cut-off list 2024 out; BA, BCom cut-offs drop

DU and College of Art

Haneet Gandhi, dean of admission at Delhi University, said: “The college cannot call all the students for practicals. First, they call seven times for practicals and when seats are vacant, they again call seven times the number of remaining seats.”

Kumar, principal of College of Arts said, “It is not in my hand to change the category of students. I cannot stop students labelling allegations but they should not make such wild claims. We are adhering to the guidelines in admission of students,” he said.