Online admission process streamlined, gaps plugged: DU college principals

With the Delhi University starting admissions from Monday under the first cut-off list, principals said that the varsity has streamlined the process, which went online last year, and plugged gaps.

The admission process was made online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This year, the university has streamlined the process and tied up loose ends. Last year, since it was the first time, we all were in the learning process. The process of verifying documents was not possible since they were being submitted online and it was quite overwhelming," Dr Kalpana Bhakuni, principal of Kamala Nehru College, said.

This time the Delhi University wrote to all exam boards to provide marksheets of students through the 'Digilocker' (an online platform) and "we will have that database available, so at least verification of marksheets won't be an issue", she said.

Bhakuni said the popular courses at her college include BA(Hons)Journalism, BA(Hons) History, BA(Hons) Political Science and BA(Hons) Geography, which is offered by a few colleges.

Until last year, only marksheets of CBSE and ISC were available through 'Digilocker' but this year, the marksheets of all the exam boards are available through the system.

Principal of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Gyantosh Kumar Jha, said they have formed an standard operating procedure (SOP) for admission.

Each application passes through three stages at the college -- the department level, the central admission committee and then it is vetted by the admission convener, he said.

Subsequently, it comes to the principal's portal, who then approves it, Jha said. explained.

"Every department has an admission committee comprising a teacher and a non-teaching staffer. We will also keep our computer labs open so that students who do not have access to them at home can come to the college and complete the process online," Jha said.

He said the popular courses at his college are BA(Hons)Economics, BCom(Honours) and BCom programme, BSc(Hons)Computer Science, BSc(Hons)Physics.

The other thing that is different this year from the last year admission process is that the portal will open for students between 10 am to 5 pm apart from the last day when it will stay open till 11.59 pm, Jha said.

"Last year, we were approving admissions till 3 am and in case we were not able to do them till late night, the admission helpline would be flooded with queries about admission not being verified. This year, the protal will stay open between 10 am to 5 pm for students, allowing us proper time to approve the admissions," said Bhakuni.

Professor C Sheela Reddy, principal of Sri Venkateswara College, said they have a well-organised admission committee, along with separate committees for addressing admission grievances, verification of documents pertaining to various special categories.

She said they expect the admission process to be smoother this year since faculty members have gained experience from last year's process.

"We follow the admission SOP set by the university. We have six members and a convener in the admission committee and the admission grievance committee also has the same composition with separate members. Then we have an online helpdesk which has six members, including one convener," Reddy said.

Then there are separate committees for verification of EWS certificates that has four members, SC/ST certificates comprising six members, OBC comprising seven members and two faculty members for verification of Persons with Disabilities (PwD). she said.

Reddy said that last year, the college saw many admissions to BA(Honours)Political Science, and other sought -after courses at the college are BA(Honours) Economics and BCom(Honours). The cut-offs for the three courses are pegged at 99.75 per cent, she said.