After a lull of two years, applications at JNU soar again

This year, the university has received 78,000 applications — a 30% rise from 2017-18, when it had received only 60,000 applications.

After a gap of two years, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has registered a rise in the number of applications for undergraduate, postgraduate and research courses for the 2018-19 academic session.

This year, the university has received 78,000 applications — a 30% rise from 2017-18, when it had received only 60,000 applications. (Hindustan Times)

This year, the university has received 78,000 applications — a 30% rise from 2017-18, when it had received only 60,000 applications. This year, the university has for the first time invited applications almost five months before its usual schedule.The JNU application process earlier started in February-end.

The application process, started on September 15 this year, and was wrapped up on October 17. There are around 2,520 seats, including 289 part-time and BA second-year lateral entry seats, on offer in the 2018-19 session.

“There has been a tremendous response from students this year. The application process received a lukewarm response in the last two years. But this year, the number of applications has soared again. What worked in our favour is our reputation and the awards that the university has received for its good work,” said Milap Punia, director, admissions.

Punia said unlike the previous admission cycle, this time they will give over a month’s time to students to complete the admission form. “Due to the court case over the MPhil/PhD seats, we could only give students about 15 days last year. That could have been the reason for lesser number of applications,” Punia said.

The entrance tests will be conducted between December 27 and 30 and the results will be declared in February.

“The merit list of selected candidates after the viva-voce will be declared in March and April. The final admission process will start in July and continue till mid-August as usual,” Punia said.

The number of applications had gone down by 18% in the 2016-17 session, the year which saw the university hitting headlines with a controversy over massive seat cuts in research courses. The university offered only about 200 seats in MPhil/PhD courses, as against the previous year’s 1,000 seats. In 2016, the university was also embroiled in a controversy over an event in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. A group of students, including the then president of students’ union, were booked in a case of sedition later.

In 2016, the university received 74,000 applications whereas the previous year it had received 79,714 applications.