Admitting it

This is a system crying out for reform. In a meeting with the principals of the universitys constituent colleges on Monday,the new vice-chancellor,Dinesh Singh,suggested that the university move to a system which formalised the cut-offs already in existence. Each college will come out with a cut-off list,and interested students will approach them directly. This is a welcome move towards decentralisation,even though it has to be approved by the universitys admissions committee,and some are likely to want to be made exceptions. The usual naysayers will line up against it though there may be some reasoned objections,too,which must be taken on board by the admissions committee.

The larger point,which universities like DU should not lose sight of,is that they must be able to streamline processes. The vast expansion in higher education that will be necessary to deal with

Indias expanding and aspirational population will need to be accommodated and that will not happen if we do not take a good hard look at outdated and archaic hoops that young people have to jump through in order to get an education. Nor can we continue with procedures that get exponentially harder to maintain as numbers expand. Money must be spent on teachers and resources,not on processing paperwork.