DU academic council to hold meet on PG admissions

Other matters under discussion will include the syllabi for the second semester of various undergraduate courses and a hike in PhD thesis submission fee.

The academic council of the Delhi University will meet on Tuesday to deliberate upon key pending issues, including the introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for post-graduate (PG) programmes, officials aware of the matter said on Monday.

New Delhi, India - Oct. 12, 2020: Students seen at Delhi University North Campus, in New Delhi, India, on Monday, October 12, 2020. Delhi University's (DU) admissions 2020 began today. (Photo by Amal KS/ Hindustan Times) (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

Other matters under discussion will include the syllabi for the second semester of various undergraduate courses and a hike in PhD thesis submission fee, the meeting agenda, accessed by HT, states. Once approved by the council, the proposals will be sent to the executive council (EC) for approval, officials said.

According to the officials, the academic council will meet to discuss the recommendations of a 10-member committee constituted to suggest a strategy for PG admissions from the 2023-24 academic session.

Under the current system, 50% of PG candidates who did their bachelors at DU get direct admission to the university, based on their merit in their qualifying examinations. The remaining 50% seats are filled on the basis of candidates’ ranks in the DU postgraduate entrance test.

“Admission to all postgraduate courses will be carried out through a single-window mechanism, where CUET-PG will be conducted by the National Testing Agency as it is done for other central universities for all categories of candidates,” the recommendations of the committee state.

“The faculties/departments of the university will be required to prepare eligibility conditions based on the department/subject specific requirements as the Common Entrance Test will be conducted separately for each programme area and merit list will be prepared programme wise accordingly,” they state.

According to the meeting agenda, the syllabi of over 100 undergraduate courses will be taken up for deliberations by the academic council. These courses include BA (Hons) Geography, BA (Hons) Economics, BA (Hons) Philosophy, BSc Electronic Science, BSc (Hons) Mathematics and BSc (Hons) Operational Research, among others.

The council will also consider a proposal to approve an increase in the PhD thesis submission fees. Currently, the thesis submission fee is ₹5,000 and ₹3,000 (for students who are not getting a fellowship). As per the amended fee structure, students with fellowship will have to pay ₹7,500 while students without fellowship will pay ₹5,500.