Delhi University entrance tests to FYUP: A year of reform beckons

With the Delhi University (DU) giving its approval to a number of key decisions in 2021, this yearpromises to be a year of change for the university, which for the first time will admit students into the newly structured undergraduate programmes with the help of an entrance exam that the varsity will either conduct itself or will be conducted by the National Testing Agency.

Until last year, admission to undergraduate courses at DU was done on the basis of cutoff marks. All applicants who met the cut-off criteria were eligible for admission. However, a case for review of the admission process was felt as sky-rocketing cutoffs, including 100% in the first list, started becoming a regular feature. At least eight DU colleges announced 100% marks as the eligibility criteria for admission to 11 graduation programs last year. The challenges posed by over-admission and under-admission also necessitated the need for a review of the admission mechanism.

In October last year, DU constituted a nine-member committee to deliberate on undergraduate admission reforms. Subsequently, the university’s academic and executive council passed a proposal for the introduction of a common entrance test for admissions to undergraduate courses in December.

While the modalities of the common entrance exam are still being worked out, DU has made it clear that admissions to different undergraduate courses in the 2022-23 academic session will only take place through the CUCET or Delhi University Common Entrance Test (DUCET).

DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh told HT last week that the university will opt for the CUCET, if it’s conducted. In a situation where the CUCET is not conducted, the university will conduct its own entrance test–the DUCET. The admission will be based entirely on the entrance exam while the Class 12 scores will serve as a qualifying factor.

DU registrar Vikas Gupta said that the entrance exam is in the interest of students. “In the past few years, we have seen students getting exorbitant marks, which in turn was leading to very high cutoffs. The entrance exam from this year will bring some relief to students. The pressure of high cutoffs will not be there. They can focus on specific subjects for preparation,” said Gupta.

He said the university was awaiting details on the schedule of the CUCET. “If the CUCET is conducted, it will be in the interest of students since they can appear for one exam over multiple exams,” said Gupta.

Besides the phasing out of the cutoff-based admission format, the university will be implementing the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) along with other provisions laid down in the National Education Policy, 2020, including enrolling itself in the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) system and allowing students to opt for Multiple Entry-Exit Scheme (MEES) for increased flexibility in higher education.

Under the new structure for undergraduate courses, DU will allow students to opt for a three-year honours programme or a four-year honours in a discipline or a four-year honours in a discipline with research. In addition to the courses that exist in the current honours programme, the new programme shall include a number of additional courses in the first three years of the programme. These courses will focus on social and emotional learning, innovation and entrepreneurship, extracurricular activities, ethics and culture and multidisciplinary research.

The Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), proposed under the NEP, allows students to earn credits for different courses and then transfer them to their academic bank. The MEES allows students to transfer and carry forward credit from one university to another. The two schemes allow students to gain credits as per their learning, store them in a digital vault, and use them to switch courses and resume their study at any point if they have to exit the course after the first, second, or third year.

Last week, two frameworks for the proposed NEP course structure were also sent to colleges for feedback. Gupta said the university was in the process of finalizing the modalities of the course structure as part of an ongoing process and feedback was also being sought from necessary stakeholders. “Many changes are being introduced keeping in mind the larger interests of students this year,” said Gupta.