Explained: How will DU’s CUET affect admissions to St Stephen’s, other minority colleges?

How has St Stephen’s College been holding admissions until now?

While DU undergraduate admissions are based on cut-offs, St Stephen’s College, which reserves 50 per cent of its seats for Christian candidates, used to conduct admissions differently. The college released cut-offs separate from the overall DU cut-off, after which admission was granted on the basis of three factors: 85 per cent weightage was given to class 12 marks and 15 per cent weightage each to both written tests and interviews. However, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the college did away with written tests, and interviews moved online.

What does CUET say about minority colleges?

The Standing Committee, which recommended the implementation of CUET, and whose document was finally approved by the AC, has said the new system will be applicable to minority colleges like St Stephen’s and Jesus and Mary College as well. Minority colleges also include a number of Sikh colleges, including the SGTB Khalsa College, SGND Khalsa College, Mata Sundri College, etc. Unlike St Stephen’s and JMC, the Sikh minority colleges so far held admissions on the basis of cut-offs like all other DU colleges. However, they had minority reservations.

Will holding admissions through CUET affect minority intake?

Registrar Vikas Gupta said minority colleges will in no way be affected adversely by the implementation of CUET. “They will follow their reservation policy as they have been doing till now. The document clearly states that separate merit lists will be generated for general and minority candidates and the college will hold admissions on the basis of these,” he said.

Does CUET allow for the holding of interviews for admissions?

Since the detailed structure of CUET is not yet clear, there are certain doubts whether St Stephen’s College will continue to be allowed to hold interviews as it had done till now. Principal John Varghese did not respond to calls and texts. However, Nandita Narain, former DU Teachers’ Association (Duta) president and a teacher at the college, said this issue could become contentious.

“I don’t think it is clear whether we will be able to have interviews because to have interviews, we need to call six or seven times the number of candidates, as the number of students we call will have to be 6-7 times the number of seats. We don’t even know if DU will give us the complete list. While I’m personally not in favour of the interview system, it may become an issue. We’ll have to see if the college goes to court over it since the interview system has earlier been upheld by the court. It may become a dispute between the college, university, and the UGC,” said Narain.

Registrar Gupta said that while St Stephen’s would be allowed to hold interviews for minority candidates, it would not be allowed for others. “The government has already decided how the merit list will be prepared. Why violate that by holding interviews?” he said.

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