'We won't go by the needs of market'

Dr Suman Verma, Joint Dean, Students Welfare, DU gives tips on courses and admission procedure and talk about campus issues, reservation and beyond in an exclusive interview withPragya Rashmi.

With OBC quota coming up this year, is there any plan to expand the infrastructure in terms of no. of seats in colleges and hostels?
We have increased seats in colleges by 18% for the general quota. There will be overall 20-25% increase in seats in second and third year.

Foreign students usually come for language courses in DU. Do you think there is less demand for mainstream courses?
Students from elite countries like America and UK prefer language courses but here we have students from other parts too. Students from SAARC and Asian countries come for all other regular and traditional courses and there is an equal demand for all courses.

How useful is parents counselling in the admission process?
We feel that parents counselling is as important as the students counselling. In such cutthroat competition, parents get somewhat skeptical of the career their children opt for. Counselling helps them understand all the aspects and alleviate their worries.

DU has become more disabled friendly. What is the outlook for physically challenged students in DU and how is it helping them lead a normal life in campus?
We have provided more facilities to them this year so that their deficiency does not hurdle their education. For blind students we have issued forms and guidelines in Braille. We have 3% reservation for disabled students and apart from it we have taken initiative to ensure they don't face any obstacle in commuting in campus. We have tied up with an NGO 'Samarthan' to help them out in every possible manner.

In recent times, demand for journalism courses have increased. There are only 5 colleges offering this course and 3 are Girls College. So, do you feel the need to introduce this course in other colleges too?
Yes, we have plans to introduce this course in other colleges. But we are not a part of the competition. We won't go by the needs of market and DU would like to preserve its identity for its traditional courses.

Colleges offering sociology are very less in DU and they all are average colleges. Students scoring 90%+ won't prefer these colleges. So what are the options for those who want to study this course in a Top college?
I strongly opine that education level in all colleges is same. There should not be any concept of 'Top College and Average College.'

Demand for sociology and psychology has increased recently and we have plans to introduce these courses in many more colleges.

Students always get confused in choosing between a top college and their favourite course. What is your suggestion to them?
You should always prefer your favourite course. We are going to have a central placement cell where students from all colleges will be evaluated equally. We want to curb this practice of companies who offer high pay packages to students from certain colleges for whatever reasons.