The Hindu : New Delhi News : Colleges ready to welcome freshers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Colleges ready to welcome freshers

WITH JUST one more day to go before Delhi University re-opens for a fresh academic session, colleges are busy giving finishing touches to their old building and new courses. And while the complete implementation of the new courses will take at least a couple of months, colleges are busy ensuring that `fuchchas' do get a "new" feel when they come to college.

If St. Stephen's had started working on parts of its building much before the beginning of the admission season, Ramjas College is all set to give students not just a better looking building but also a new classroom experience.

Perhaps the first time that any Delhi University colleges is making such an ambitious move towards technology backed education, Ramjas College students will now get to experience an all new classroom experience. Not only have all the classrooms been renovated, the college has now also set up a conference/committee room with modern facilities.

But the real edge will be the overhead projection systems that each department is going to have from this year on. "Our aim is to get a projection system for each classroom, so that teachers feel empowered in their teaching mechanism," the Ramjas College principal, Rajender Prasad, said.

It is, however, not the only college going for a new look. One of the most popular girls colleges on the campus, Miranda House too has made some additions in the form of new classrooms and a redone restroom. The college is also ready with the designs for the extension of its hostel, which clearly needs to expand to accommodate more residents. New room coolers have also been brought it to tackle the hot season ahead.

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The problem of plenty is not new to Delhi University colleges. With the number of seats available in the University being inversely proportional to the number of students applying for the courses, its not easy for colleges to know whether they can strike the right balance.

And Miranda College seems to have run into the same trouble, with the number of students in some courses being much more than what the college can handle. "We do have more students in courses like Sociology and Political Science, and since managing a class of 80 or more will be difficult for teachers, we plan to have two sections in the courses this year," said the Miranda College principal, R. Usha.

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The monsoon has always made the opening day of Delhi University's new academic session special. Providing respite from the hot weather, a drizzle or downpour has been a vital part of the college opening days for the past many years. With the monsoon hardly showing any signs of arriving here, those on the campus are hoping that fresher receive the same welcome that they did in their first year. A chance to stay longer in the college or simply explore their all new haunts, the rains do make the first few days easier for students.

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Admission to M.Phil in Chemistry is now open in Delhi University, with details being available on the official website www.du.ac.in.

The last date for submission of applications is July 31.Also open is the registration for the M.A/M.SC courses in Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research under the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences. The last date for submitting applications is July 22.

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The chairman of the Central Counselling Board, P.B. Sharma, visited the IIT counselling centre to inspect the network facilities being set up for the on campus, on-line central counselling of candidates who have made it past the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) for this year.

One of the 16 counselling centres set up across the country for on campus online counselling, over 28,000 students have been called for counselling at the central centres. Expressing his satisfaction at the network facilities at IIT Delhi, Prof. Sharma said good progress was being made at all the centres.

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

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