Delhi University Welcomes New Students Amid Admission Challenges

Delhi University's colleges recently hosted orientation programmes for new undergraduate students as they kick off the academic year 2024-25. Despite the delay in CUET results and admission process, nearly 68,000 students are enrolled. Concerns from student and teacher associations highlight a shortened vacation time and increased pressure on teachers.

Several Delhi University (DU) colleges conducted orientation programmes on Wednesday for students set to attend their first day of college.

The new batch of undergraduate students will begin their classes for the academic year 2024-25 on Thursday.

To help students acclimatize to their new environment, colleges held orientation sessions introducing campus life and providing opportunities to meet college officials. So far, DU has enrolled nearly 68,000 students across 1,559 undergraduate programmes offered by 69 colleges and departments, following two admission rounds.

This year, the university offered admission to 90,644 candidates, nearly 19,000 more than its sanctioned capacity of 71,600 seats, to ensure optimal seat fill. The admission process continues with a third round to admit students via performance-based programmes and supernumerary quotas, including those for children/widows of armed forces personnel, extracurricular activities, and sports. The schedule for this round will be announced soon. Additionally, 27,554 candidates secured their preferred college and course combinations this year.

However, this year's admission process faced uncertainties due to a delay in CUET results, which were postponed amid allegations of irregularities.

The session was initially set to begin on August 1, but delays have raised concerns among student organisations and teacher associations. They noted the shortened vacation time for students and the additional pressure on teachers to complete the curriculum in less time.

(With inputs from agencies.)