DU may step in from next year

From the next year, the Delhi University will intervene, if necessary, in fixing the admission cut-offs for individual colleges. But for this year, the students will have to wait for the second and third lists with lower cut-offs.

From the next year, the Delhi University will intervene, if necessary, in fixing the admission cut-offs for individual colleges. But for this year, the students will have to wait for the second and third lists with lower cut-offs.

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DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh told a press conference on Wednesday after a meeting with HRD minister Kapil Sibal: “The admission norms that do not allow the DU administration now to decide college cut-offs will be reviewed to ensure that unreasonably high cut-offs are not set in future.”

Singh told HT that the change in the admission policy this year, allowing colleges set the cut-offs before inviting applications, might have contributed to the high cut-offs.

The debate was triggered by Sri Ram College of Commerce setting a 100% cut-off on Tuesday for non-commerce students applying for B.Com (Honours) course.

Both Singh and Sibal, however, are treading cautiously considering the colleges' insistence on institutional autonomy. Sibal even said the government had no "desire to interfere" in the functioning of colleges.

"But a 100% cut-off is irrational. How can we justify a situation where students who score as high as a 95-96% cannot even apply for admission? This is de-motivating for bright students," Sibal said. "I was very unhappy to learn about this."