At Delhi University, 3-4 times more students than seats in some colleges

Over-admission has not been limited to prominent Delhi University (DU) colleges this year as several lesser-known colleges have also seen more students joining than the number of seats on offer, a DU panel report that assessed multiple undergraduate programmes reveals.

The most staggering case is that of BA (Honours) History at Dyal Singh College. With a capacity of 77 seats, the college had set a comparatively low cut-off at 94 per cent for unreserved seats. The report records 327 admissions to the programme, over four times the number of seats.

There appear to be two sets of courses for which the findings reflect a high number of over-admissions — popular courses in top-choice colleges and popular courses for which lesser-known colleges had set lower cut-offs.

For instance, in the case of BA (Honours) political science, Hindu College had set a 100 per cent cut-off for unreserved seats and still admitted 146 students against 49 seats. Ten colleges had a cut-off of over 99 per cent for the programme.

Bhagini Nivedita College, a rural college in Najafgarh, had set one amongst the lowest cut-offs for the favoured programme, at 80 per cent for unreserved seats, and admitted 132 students against 58 seats. PGDAV Evening College set an 88.5 per cent cut-off and admitted 185 students against 56 seats; Kalindi College had a 93 per cent cut-off and admitted 250 students against 154 seats.

Other popular courses which have seen over-admission in popular colleges are Physics at Miranda House (232 against 86 seats) and Hindu College (210 against 79 seats); Chemistry at Miranda House (184 against 78 seats) and Hindu College (144 against 79 seats); and arithmetic at Hindu College (185 against 49 seats).

The report noted “significantly low” admissions over the years in seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes and in languages. “The committee was of the considered view that applicants could also be constructively encouraged to choose such courses by optimally highlighting their relevance and qualitative importance,” it stated.

Source: Indian Express