After a very sudden decision by the Centre to cancel the CBSE class 12 board exams, the University of Delhi (DU) is now exploring options to take admission. Until now, DU granted admission based on merit or entrance exam. However, as per New Education Policy (NEP), this year onwards, National Testing Agency (NTA) was to conduct Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) for UG, PG, and research admission in Central and State Universities of India. But given the situation, is conducting CUCET feasible? more importantly, how will DU take admission in 2021?
Delhi University has not released any official admission process yet and current news on DU admission 2021 are very contradicting. As per news reports by the Indian Express (IE), DU is keen on taking admission based on merit. The acting Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the university, P.C. Joshi, has told daily that decision is being taken because of unprecedented COVID situation. The newspaper also reported that the acting CV said that the central university agrees with the government’s decision to cancel the exam but the admission in the courses will be strictly done based on merit. The university is read to honour the board’s criteria.
Rajeev Gupta, who is the Chairperson-Admissions, also gave out a statement to IE. He said that CBSE will formulate criteria to announced the result and based on that result, DU will determine the cut off for this session.
Keeping this aside, Free Press Journal has also published a news by PTI. However, as per this news, P.C. Joshi has said that conducting Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) might be a good idea. According to this report, P.C Joshi told PTI that under these extraordinary circumstances, there will be some way to judge merit. CUCET can be a good decision right now, as it will be based on all India merit and DU will not compromise on merit.
As per a report by The Hindu, P.C. Joshi has told that whatever merit system CBSE will come up with, the university will follow by. The news also says that if the Ministry of Education (MoE) approves the idea of CUCET then the exam will be held.
Before the cancellation of CBSE 12th exams, DU also sent a proposal to University Grants Commission (UGC) for using 50% class 12th marks and 50% CUCET marks for admission. However, as per recent report by IE, the acting VC of DU has made it clear that with the prediction of COVID third wave and prevailing repercussion of the second wave, it is not possible to hold CUCET this year.
Acting VC of DU, P.C. Joshi, is also part of the committee which have been set up to overlook the possibility of a common entrance exam for Central universities admission. He has also suggested that CBSE can calculate class 12th marks as per percentile, instead of percentage. However, so far, CBSE has not made announcement for the same.
With so much contradicting news, quoting the same person but with different statements, the students are confused on how DU admission will be done. However, one thing is clear that DU will not compromise with merit. Even if it will hold the entrance exam or release the cut off, only the deserving candidates will get admission.
Mr. Gupta will soon hold meetings to plan out details of DU admission. They are just waiting for CBSE to release the evaluation process. Once the process is out, DU will decide the admission process as well.
DU Admission 2021 Delayed?
Even though CBSE exams will not be held, but there is a high possibility that the admission process will start a bit late. Talking to IE, Mr. Gupta said that DU admission is done on all India level. Though CBSE is an integral fact, the university also has to consider state boards as well. Hence, if any state released result by July or August, then the admission process will start after that.
DU admission is based on 10+2 merit and there are a few courses in which admission is based on Delhi University Entrance Test (DUET) which is held by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The merit-based admission is done as per the best of 4 marks in class 12 and cut off based on it. The cut off for DU can go as high as 98 and 98, depending on the college and course.
Currently, DU has released the admission form for the Foreign nationals at fsr2021.du.ac.in. The admission for the national candidates is to start soon. As per the official notice on du.ac.in, dated April 6, 2021, “The Admission process of the University of Delhi for the Academic Session 2021-22 will be announced very soon.” Apart from this, there is no more update on the official website of DU.
Delhi University is one of the oldest and premier universities of India, which is divided into south and north campus. There are 91 colleges, 16 Faculties, 86 Departments, 20 centres, and 03 institutes under DU. The affiliated colleges of DU offer more than 500 courses.
