The admission process of the two minority colleges is going to be a “confusing one” with St Stephen’s College and Jesus & Mary College agreeing for a centralised registration with Delhi University only on a condition of having a “parallel” registration policy.
On Monday, the principals of the two colleges agreed to have a centralised registration process with Delhi University but insisted to have separate registration platform on their web portals.
“The student will have to first register on the DU website and then go to the website of these colleges and fill their form as well,” Nachiketa Singh, a member of the admission committee told The Pioneer.
The university had discussed the admission procedure for the minority colleges in its admissions committee meeting on May 20. While the university insisted to have a centralised registration process, the colleges had refused.
“The principals were very adamant on not giving up the separate registration but the university was of the opinion that while the college maintains their minority status, the students are felicitated with degree of Delhi University thus it is mandatory for them to register through the university,” said Nachiketa who is also the assistant professor at the SGTB Khalsa college. He said, the university argued that it could be confusing.
The university has directed the colleges that the candidates must first register through the university and fill in the DU registration number, afterwards on the registration form of the college.
On Tuesday, the committee has asked the technical team of the university to visit and meet the technical team of St Stephen’s college and decide on “linking up” the parallel registration process.
The colleges will, however, continue to have a separate merit criteria under which they are free to issue their own cut-off lists. Under the process, it would be mandatory for the candidates to come through DU registration platform and only the ones with the registration number of the Delhi University would be allowed to come for final interview.
Earlier, DU took a decision of releasing only five cut-off lists, following which all its 70 colleges are allowed to set their own merit criteria for the intake of students to vacant seats. It also gave a nod to the proposal of three colleges, funded by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, to have their own merit criteria, entirely. While these three colleges have a complete centralised admission policy, the other two minority colleges will have a parallel registration policy.
For the upcoming admission season, the university has decided to come with only five cut-off lists. The merit criteria for the rest of the vacant seats across various courses would be decided by the colleges. While some have expressed concerns over maintaining “transparency”, DU officials have assured that it would completely transparent as it has directed the colleges to upload information on their websites.
“The way university is going ahead with giving a free hand to colleges ….it could be a setback for candidates. Colleges can easily take to favouritism,” said one of the college professors. The admissions to undergraduate courses, a process for three months is going to begin on May 28.