New Delhi: Starting with the 2022-23 academic year, undergraduate admissions to Delhi University (DU) colleges will be based only on the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores, ThePrint has learnt, after the University Grants Commission announced that all central universities will adopt the test.
Students will also be able to continue to switch streams, which means science students can opt to join arts or commerce streams, commerce students may switch to arts, and arts students may switch to commerce. However, commerce and arts students may not switch to science.
The Delhi University, in a meeting of its Academic Council on 17 March, decided that aspirants are required to have cleared Class 12 exams with a minimum score of 40 per cent from a recognised board to qualify for the entrance test to the university, ThePrint has learnt. The draft of decisions from that meeting are currently under review in an ongoing meeting of the AC.
The AC also decided on 17 domain-specific subjects for the tests, depending on the availability of courses offered by colleges that are part of the university, sources in DU said.
So far, admissions to DU colleges were mostly based on cut-offs, which had touched 100 per cent for some subjects in top colleges last year.
In 2020, the New Education Policy brought in by the Centre had proposed a common entrance test for higher education. A high-level committee comprising of central university vice-chancellors was then formed by the UGC to create guidelines for the common entrance test in 2021, but it could not be put into effect then due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This month, the UGC decided to go ahead with the CUET for admissions to undergraduate courses in all 45 central universities.
The CUET hopes to curb problems of high cut-offs and make admission a level playing field for all students.
While the guidelines for the CUET have been created by the UGC, the National Testing Agency (NTA) — an autonomous agency set up to conduct entrance exams for higher education institutions — will be in charge of drawing up the question papers and conducting the exam.
Meanwhile, last month, DU formed an eight-member NTA Coordination Committee for CUET. The committee is headed by Registrar Vikas Gupta, with Dean (Examinations) D.S. Rawat serving as convener.
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3-part question paper
According a blueprint of the CUET exam pattern, accessed by ThePrint, the question papers will be divided into three sections.
The first section will be a language test, for which students will have the option to choose one of 13 languages — Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Questions will be based on reading comprehension, verbal ability and grammar, among others.
For the second section, students will be required to answer questions on one to four domain-specific subjects, such as accounting, bookkeeping, history, economics or geography.
The third part of the paper will have two subsections. While the first part will involve a general test for vocational and open eligibility programmes, where students will be tested on their general knowledge, awareness of current affairs, general mental ability and logical and analytical reasoning, the second sub-part will be an additional language test, for which students will be tested on their knowledge of one of 13 languages, such as French, Spanish, German, Konkani, Bodo, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Tibetan, Japanese. This sub-part is, however, optional.
According to the agenda and minutes of the 17 March meeting of the DU Academic Council, accessed by ThePrint, aspirants will continue to have the flexibility to change their stream of study.
According to the DU’s draft CUET guidelines, candidates will be required to appear for CUET only for subjects that they have cleared in Class 12.
For example, those seeking admission to B.Sc. with honours in biological sciences, must appear for a combination of subjects like physics, chemistry, biology or biotechnology. Similarly, students applying for honours in chemistry, will have to appear for physics, chemistry and maths.
DU has picked 17 domain-specific subjects for the second part of the paper, from the guidelines given by UGC for conducting the CUET. This list, called ‘B1’, includes accounts, biology, business studies, chemistry, computer sciences, economics, geography, history, home science, legal studies, maths, physics, political sciences, psychology, sociology, anthropology and Sanskrit.
According to information shared by DU officials the NTA may add an additional ten subjects to the basket, which include physical education, engineering graphics, fine arts, knowledge tradition-practice in India, commercial arts, performing arts, entrepreneurship, teaching aptitude, mass media and agriculture. These have been categorised as ‘B2’.
The wide range of subjects allows the switching of streams easier.
For example, according to draft guidelines for CUET, a student seeking admission in for honours in English, will have to appear for “English from Section 1 and any two subjects from B1+ Any one subject from B1 or B2”. This means a student who has studied science or commerce in Class 12, may clear the CUET in those subjects (along with English) and still get admitted to English, which is an arts subject.
To use another example, a science student may appear for English, biology, chemistry and physics exams under CUET to seek admission for English (Honours). Similarly a commerce student looking to make a switch to English honours, may appear for English, accounts, economics and business studies.
For language degree courses, the student will have to compulsorily appear for that language in the entrance exam.
Although the Delhi University has adopted most CUET guidelines issued by the UGC, some variations have been made to fit the needs and requirements of the university, said Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh.
For example, according to the UGC guidelines students, should ideally be able to declare their major and minor subjects at the end of the third semester. However, in DU, students will have to declare their major and minor subjects at the time of admission. This has been done keeping in mind the logistical facilities available with the university, the V-C said.
“Students need to indicate their major subject during the admission process, so that they can be admitted to the college which provides the best facilities for the selected course. However, we have kept some flexibility with the selection of the minor subjects. Students may change them along the duration of their education, if they wish to,” said Singh.
Another decision that was taken in the Academic Council meeting held on 17 March was that the Vice-Chancellor holds the power to make cosmetic changes to the admission process in case of any further changes devised by the NTA.
CBSE results for Class 12 are scheduled to be declared in June 2022. While the dates for the CUET are yet to be declared, according to a public notice issued by the UGC, the application for undergraduate exams will start from the first week of April, 2022.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: Delhi University to allow former students a chance to complete their final exams, obtain degrees
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