Delhi university’s nod for plan to use CUET for PhD screening

The executive council, the top decision making body of the university, also approved a slew of changes in the syllabus

The Delhi University’s Executive Council (EC) on Friday approved plans to allow PhD admissions for the academic year 2023-2024 on the bases of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) 2023, while announcing three new B.Tech programmes, a four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) course as a pilot project, officials aware of the matter said.

The council also cleared three new B.Tech programmes -- B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering, B.Tech Electronics and Communication Engineering and B.Tech Electrical Engineering with a total intake of 360 students. being admitted. (HT Photo)

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The council, the top decision making body of the university, also approved a slew of changes in the syllabus which included removing a reading on poet Muhammad Iqbal and introducing VD Savarkar in the Political Science syllabus in fourth semester, they said. The changes were approved by the Academic Council (AC) on May 26.

A Master of Arts (MA) programme in Hindu studies will also be launched, they added.

To be sure, the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts CUET is yet to announce the test for PHD courses. Currently, admission in undergraduate and post-graduate courses in all central universities are done on the basis of CUET scores.

EC members said the PhD entrance test, once announced, will serve as the basis for screening future candidates. “CUET PhD entrance is yet to be announced. However, the university has held talks with NTA, and the test will be announced soon. The rest of the process, including the interviews, will remain the same,” said Seema Das, an EC member who attended the council’s meeting on Friday.

DU Registrar Vikas Gupta confirmed that NTA will soon hold CUET (PhD) for aspirants in three universities -- DU, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University. “Once they (NTA) formally announce the process, candidates can take the test,” he said.

NTA officials did not respond to HT’s queries on DU’s proposal

New centres approved

The Executive Council Freedom and Partition study centre, a tribal studies centre and a Hindu studies centre, which have already been cleared by the Academic Council, the university said in a statement.

“A Master of Arts programme in Hindu Studies will be started under the centre for Hindu studies,” the statement said.

3 new engineering courses

The council also cleared three new B.Tech programmes -- B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering, B.Tech Electronics and Communication Engineering and B.Tech Electrical Engineering with a total intake of 360 students. being admitted.

According to the officials quote above, the university received approval from the ministry of education in April for the creation of 72 teaching and 48 non-teaching posts for the new programmes.

The three courses which will be conducted by the Faculty of Technology.

Strategic plan

The meeting, organised under the chairmanship of DU vice chancellor Yogesh Singh, also discussed the strategic plan of the university for the next 25 years (2022-2047). Singh said that the next 25 years are extremely important for the country and when India will be celebrating the centenary of its independence, it will be among developed nations. “Therefore, the University of Delhi has also started preparing to contribute to make India a developed nation in the next 25 years,” Singh said, according to the statement.

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“For this, it was discussed what kind of scientists, engineers, doctors, historians and citizens would the country need and what could be the role of the University of Delhi in that. Keeping all this in mind, a strategic plan for the next 25 years was discussed,” he said.

DU EC member Ashok Agarwal said suggestions were made for inclusion in the strategic plan. He added that changes to the syllabi were approved with a few members recording their dissent, he said.