The Delhi University and other educational institutes in the national Capital are mulling ways to implement the new biannual admission system, which will allow students to apply for admission twice a year.   However, since the academic session 2024-25 starts in less than a month, there are few takers for it now.

 Given the constrains, the DU has decided to implement the twice-a-year admission system from the next academic session with a pilot project for selected courses, Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh said.

"It is a good initiative by the UGC in the interest of students. However, it will take some time to implement this fully as it will require additional infrastructure to make space for increased intake of students," Singh said.

"Our admissions for academic session 2024-2025 has already begun, so we would not be able to implement it from this year. We will adopt this as a pilot project for a few courses initially and later decide for other programmes," he added.

The Jamia Millia Islamia, which is functioning in absence of a permanent Vice-Chancellor, said it will await approval from the statutory bodies to implement the system.

If necessary approvals are granted, the varsity may adopt the option for PhD admissions, Officiating VC Mohammad Shakeel said. "The matter will be placed before the ensuing Executive Council meeting and directions will be obtained by the esteemed members of the council on how to proceed with the announcement by the UGC in respect of admissions twice a year.

"There is a possibility that this option can be looked into for PhD programme but anything has to be first approved by the AC and then the EC. The VC on its own cannot implement the system and has take approval from the statutory bodies of the university," he said.

There was no clarity on the implementation of the biannual admission system at the Jawaharlal Nehru University as officials could not be reached out.  Meanwhile, state universities like Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (IP) University and Ambedkar University also plan to adopt the new admission system.

IP University Vice-Chancellor Mahesh Verma said he will try to roll out the new admission system for selected courses from 2024-25 academic session and table a proposal for it in the academic council meeting of the university slated for next week.  "It's an outstanding idea and a win-win situation for everyone. While on the one hand it will provide an opportunity to students wanting extra time to prepare for admissions to apply in the second round of admissions, (on the other) varsities will also be able to generate revenue by utilising their resources round-the-clock which otherwise go in sleep mode during the admission time.

"I am upbeat about implementing this system. I will table an agenda to adopt this system in the academic council meeting next week. We will need a couple of months to start the admissions cycle," he said. Ambedkar University Vice Chancellor Anu Singh Lather said the varsity may implement the system for few courses from next year onwards on an "experimental" basis.  "It's a welcomed move by the UGC. This system is already prevalent internationally. By and by we will try to implement this system sooner or later.

"Currently, we are struggling with infrastructure issues and to implement this system we would need additional space, staff, as well as teaching faculty. By next year we may adopt this system on an experimental basis for few of our courses that are popular," she said.

Private universities like Lovely Professional University also plan to implement the biannual admission system.  Ashok Mittal, Chancellor LPU said the move stands to make education "accessible and flexible."

"This change not only helps students who may have missed the traditional admission cycle but also supports those looking to switch their educational path mid-year," he said.

UGC chief M Jagadesh Kumar on Tuesday told PTI that Indian universities and higher education institutions would now be allowed to offer admissions twice a year on the lines of foreign universities.  The two admission cycles will be July-August and January-February from the 2024-25 academic session.