DU admissions begin, over 19k register online on Day 1

nNEWDELHI: Over 19,500 applicants have registered for admissions to Delhi University’s various undergraduate courses in just about four hours as the admissions began on Saturday. While 19,543 applicants had registered online for the undergraduate courses, 5,889 registered for postgraduate courses and 457 registered for PHD, university officials said.

DU on Saturday started the online registration process for admission to its various undergraduate, postgraduate, Mphil, and PHD courses. Applicants will get a two-week window ending on July 4 to register for the courses.

The Bulletin of Information, which contains guidelines on university’s admission procedure, was uploaded on the DU website at around 5pm and the registration portal was also made operational for applicants.

In 2019, applicants got an over three-week window from May 30 to June 22 to register for admissions and the first cut-off list was announced on June 28. This year, however, the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the admission schedule. The dates of the first cut-off are yet to be decided as the Central Board of Secondary Educaonline

tion (CBSE) is yet to conduct its twelve main class 12 papers. The exams are due to be held between July 1 and 15.

Dean (admissions) Shobha Bagai said the admission process will be “contact-less” and completely online. “We have a link with the CBSE portal to verify the marksheets . We have written to all educational boards to share the link where their results will be announced so that colleges can verify the marksheets,” she said at a press conference. “DU had been planning the complete

admission for some time but the Covid-19 pandemic catalyzed the process,” she added. DU will conduct webinars to clear any doubts applicants have. “We will also have dedicated helpline numbers where students can post in their queries,” Bagai said.

This is also the first time that trials for sports and extracurricular activities(eca) will not be held. While students will get admission under the sports category on the basis of their certificates, for ECA, only NSS and NCC certificates will be considered.

While the bulletin mentions that there will be five cut-offs for students, the admissions committee is yet to release the tentative schedule for the first cut-off. Bagai explained that this is due to the uncertainty over CBSE results. The National Testing Agency will be conducting the entrance tests to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in DU in 20 cities.

Meanwhile, some students faced issues in accessing the website. “DU is planning on holding its first ever online open book examination after 10 days. But it has failed in making an efficient online infrastructure for filling admission forms,” said Akshay Lakra, president of the Delhi unit of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).