DU admissions 2019: Why is number of registrations falling at Delhi University?

While the Delhi University officials claim that the fall is due to curb on multiple application filling, they also admit that foreign tie-ups and 'fancy' course names have attracted students towards emerging private universities.

4 min readNew DelhiJun 27, 2019 11:12 AM IST First published on: Jun 26, 2019 at 06:03 PM IST

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There is a considerable drop in the number of applications as against last year.

DU admissions 2019: The University of Delhi (DU) will be releasing the first cut-off on June 28 for it’s undergraduate (UG) courses. This year, a total of 2,58,388 candidates completed their registration process for UG courses. This is a decline from 2,78,544 registrations last year. In 2017, however, the number was at a low of 2.20 lakh.

There is a considerable drop in the number of applications as against last year, that too when 10 per cent supernumerary seats have been added under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservation. While many accredit this to the falling rating of the varsity, the DU officials, however, claim the curbing of duplicate registrations has brought the dip.

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Member of the admissions committee, DU, Pinki Sharma said, “This year we have adopted tech-measures to stop multiple filling. The editing of forms was provided by the university and that too just once. Earlier, many students used to make multiple entries. This might have lead to the dip but the actual number of students still remains as high.”

She also added, “There is also seen a craze among students for emerging private universities which have fancy course names and foreign tie-ups. These interesting course names and opportunity to spending a few months studying either abroad or by foreign-based faculty could be an inclination but old is still gold. The brand value that comes with the Delhi University is still unmatched.”

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But private universities claim that it is lack of infrastructure and more focus on only the class 12 marks that hinders students from choosing government college. Director admissions, Amity University, Major General Bhaskar Chakravarthy, said, “Private universities are more flexible because they offer diverse options. Students are hand-held and there are interdisciplinary options for them. For instance, we have a compulsory foreign language, every department has a placement cell. In most private universities, many industry players are part of the officials which helps in keeping the curriculum in sync with the industry.”

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He added, “Admissions-based only on merit are not the apt way. The marks are just the baby-fat, it will eventually melt. The real test of life comes when students move out of the institutes for which holistic development is needed.”

This year, for UG admissions at the Delhi University, maximum entries were in the unreserved category – 1,52,478 students followed by 55,457 under OBS, 34262 under SC and 7100 under ST category. In the newly introduced EWS category, a total of 9091 applications came in for undergraduate admissions.

The number of female candidates was higher than male in the unreserved category as 84021 girls and 68457 boys applied for admission at DU. In ST, SC and OBC category the number of male applicants was higher than females.

In newly introduced EWS category too, the number of male applicants was higher as 5528 boys and 3562 girls applied for admission under the category. In the EWS category, one student from the third gender also applied. This is the first time ever that a third gender category candidate has applied for admission to the varsity.