The Hindu : New Delhi News : DU admission story not over yet

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Saturday, Jul 08, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

DU admission story not over yet

Staff Reporter

Biggest surprise seems to be enthusiasm being shown for evening colleges

Photo: R.V. Moorthy

FUTURE TENSE: Admission seekers at the Dayal Singh College after the third cut-off list was declared in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The rush at counters at colleges in Delhi University might have thinned down, but the story of admissions to the academic session is still not quite over. The fourth list might not promise a whole lot of choice for students, however, for colleges, the situation is still a little fluid.

"The cut-off story is not over till the last student in the last college gets admission. The cut-off percentage in the first list was very high and students took admission wherever they could. But now there will be some changes. Colleges that don't declare the list because of prestige will also have seats left in courses and will see students move from one course to another,'' said Dean of Students' Welfare S.K. Vij. While there has been hype about Commerce this year, the other courses that have found favour with students are Economics, English and Mathematics.

"The choices that students make are no longer dependent on their parents. They know what they need to study and most of them probably feel that studying Mathematics will give them a better chance at Management courses," said Prof. Vij.

However, the biggest surprise in the whole admission process seems to be the enthusiasm that students have had for evening colleges. With almost all students choosing Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (Evening) in the centralised form, the response has been phenomenal.

"We got almost 79,000 to 80,000 applications this year. But we found that the top students with 90 per cent didn't come to seek admission. We can't understand what happened. But one reason could be that we have established ourselves as an evening college. This time we have had almost 50 per cent girls taking up B.A. Programme and 40 per cent opting for B.Com. Earlier girls were not allowed," said Principal O.P Sharma.

Gender balance

With discipline being a strong motivation factor, the college seems to be keeping the gender balance right. Moti Lal Nehru College (Evening) had a similar success story in the number of applications. The college has found that it is a destination that students are choosing not because of their marks, but to get an edge over others.

"I tell students that if they go into the market with only one degree, it is not impressive. But if they have something more, that will make the difference. Evening colleges allow students to do that and I think parents and students are realising this. Even the School of Correspondence is getting students with high marks, because they want to get more qualifications," said Moti Lal Nehru College (Evening) Principal Suresh Sharma.

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