Until 2021, admission in most of the courses at Delhi University undergraduate level were on the basis of class 12th board marks . A few courses used to prefer DUJAT for admission and popularly known as "entrance based courses". A less known meta college concept courses also function in Delhi University at Cluster Innovation Center ( CIC), however this center offers only 2 courses at Undergraduate level.

Recently Delhi University announced to change the admission process method and will take admission through entrance exams. As per officials of the University, admission process will be through CUCET/DUCET. This major change in the admission process in one of the top central Universities has been welcomed by most of the teachers and students fraternity. However larger questions are how much inclusivity will increase once this method comes into practice. Whether it will make Delhi University colleges more inclusive or not in terms of gender and regional representation.

Until very recently there was a debate about the gender ratio of students intake in premium engineering institutions like IITs and NITs. However in 2018, IITs introduced quotas for girls across the engineering department. Here, I am discussing some steps which have been taken by major universities of India to increase diversity in campuses. Why these time tested methods should be adopted by Delhi University to ensure inclusive campuses.

Deprivation points for better regional diversity:

Campuses should invite all types of voices, but due to lack of amenities, often the entrance process becomes much harder for some students. This can be due to lack of better education system in certain district at senior secondary level, harsh terrain and climatic condition which affect regular studies, low literacy rate of district which means another disadvantage for girls students.Hence deprivation points as adopted in JNU; based on quartile District points, Kashmiri migrants, females candidates and defense categories - can be adopted by Delhi University too. DU considered relaxation on the basis of defense quota and KM quota. But universities should also consider quartile Districts points and female deprivation points in the admission process for better representation.

Girls Quota At course level:

IITs introduced reservation of girls seats in 2018. However these were supernumerary seats, meaning it will not come at the cost of general seats. Though DU has some women colleges and sometimes it holds logic that there is no need to create additional girls reservation but we should not forget that those girls colleges do not offer all courses and many top colleges of DU are Co-Ed Colleges. Hence chances of Imbalanced gender ratio can be seen as has been in the case of STEM courses in other universities and colleges. Top law colleges too have not been gender balanced campuses. IITs took more than 50 years to introduce such reform because gender balanced admission methods were not adopted in initial years. Hence Delhi University admission committee certainly should adopt this method.

First member of the generation to attend University:

Being a first generation college learner shows that one has reached that level with some information asymmetricity which graduate parents often provide to their child.

Many western universities provide relaxation to first generation college mover hence this could be a criteria to assure a more inclusive admission process. However this should not be an added reservation rather this relaxation should be provided to those who have not claimed any type of reservation in application form. Additional 1 or 2 seats can be created at course level for such students.

Portal for entrance exam materials:

NTA is an exam conducting body for most of the entrance exams. On NTA Website many mock papers are available but they should also consider making material for entrance exams so that students are not compelled to join coaching institutions for CUCET preparation and many times they feel alienated if they do not do so. Sometimes peer pressure works among students to join certain coaching.

AICTE has started a portal where free course coupons are being provided to socially and educationally backward students for certification in various skill oriented domains. Exam conducting body should start a similar portal where various study materials could be available at one place. Hence, the most awaited reform in the history of Delhi University should be started with extra caution and making campuses more inclusive should be the prime motive.

ARTICLE BY:

ABHIJEET GUPTA