Students rue errors as DU admission portal picks up data from CUET forms

Aspirants who had included Delhi University among their preferred universities at the time of applying for the common university entrance test (CUET) have started signing up on the common seat allocation system (CSAS), the new portal launched by the varsity on Monday to carry out admissions on the basis of CUET scores

Aspirants who had included Delhi University among their preferred universities at the time of applying for the common university entrance test (CUET) have started signing up on the common seat allocation system (CSAS), the new portal launched by the varsity on Monday to carry out admissions on the basis of CUET scores.

New Delhi, India - Sept. 12, 2022: Yogesh Singh, Vice Chancellor of Delhi University addresses a press conference over the admissions process and launch of “Allocation-cum-Admission Policies” under its Common Seat Allocation System (CUET) 2022 at the VC Office, Delhi University in New Delhi, India, on Monday, September 12, 2022. (Photo by Sanchit Khanna/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

However, those students who had not included DU among their preferred institutions while filling up CUET forms are now in a quandary as the admissions portal is not allowing such students to even register.

Deepali, a government school student, said she was not allowed to register on the portal on Tuesday. “I had not opted for DU while applying for CUET; I was hoping I could that when the university opens its registration process. But, now, when I tried logging in, I got an error message that I had “not given the intent to apply to the university”. I will be contacting DU to figure a way out,” said Deepali, who goes only by her first name.

Many others who appeared for CUET but did not opt for the correct subject combination or furnished incorrect details in their CUET forms are also a worried lot as the CSAS is automatically picking up personal details from the CUET forms, leaving no scope for correction.

Students said they couldn’t opt for the correct subjection combination earlier owing to confusion or a lack of clarity. Many of them took to social media platforms such as Twitter on Tuesday to request the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted CUET, to open a correction window. The testing agency last opened a correction window in August and there is no information if, or when, the window will be opened again.

NTA officials did not respond to queries seeking clarity on the correction window.

Dean (admissions), DU, Haneet Gandhi said personal details of a candidate cannot be modified on the CSAS portal as it picks up these details directly from the CUET portal. “Personal details such as name, photograph and signature submitted by the applicant during CUET (UG)-2022 will be automatically integrated into CSAS-2022. Students will not be able to edit these details,” said Gandhi, adding that details in other fields can be edited.

She said the university had stressed on the importance of opting for the correct subject combinations while filling CUET forms. “We had asked students to opt for subjects that they had studied in Class 12 while appearing for CUET,” said Gandhi.

On Day One of the registration process on Monday, Delhi University received around 18,000 registrations till 9pm. Many applicants are also waiting for CUET results, which is expected by September 15, before they register on the DU portal.

Anisha Srivastava, a DU aspirant, said she was yet to fill out the form but had logged on to the DU admission portal to get an idea about the process. “My friend and I were checking out the admission portal. However, it soon crashed and we were unable to access the website after that. We hope that the process is not too cumbersome,” said Srivastava, a student of ITL Public School, Dwarka.

Besides DU, Ambedkar University also launched its admission process on Monday. The university received over 800 applications till Tuesday afternoon, registrar Nitin Malik said.