In a departure from previous practice, the University of Delhi has granted Aditi Mahavidyalaya and Bhagini Nivedita College special permission to only admit undergraduate students based on Class 12 board exams. This was done after several rounds of Common University Entrance Test Undergraduate counselling failed to fill all of the available seats across these institutions. Under Delhi University's regular admission system, all undergraduate admissions are done in a manner based on the Common Seat Allocation System for the entrance test scores. But the university officials explained that this is a one-off arrangement to address the vacancies that have not been filled despite the fact that the university has had many rounds of national counselling.
After the decision from the central university, Bhagini Nivedita College began offline applications for undergraduate programs including Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science. Students are evaluated and shortlisted based on their Class 12 academic performance if seats are available. The institution imposed a strict deadline for candidates to submit their physical applications, and the subsequent steps of document verification and fee payment were done following the application window.
College and university officials found that the low enrollment for some of these colleges has continued for many years now despite counselling cycles. Aditi Mahavidyalaya, in the semi-urban city of Bawana, has been observing 40 percent of its undergraduate seats vacant after the last few years of counselling. Many young women in rural areas often refuse to register or appear for the national entrance test because they are scared of travelling and studying outside their area. So good students with good Class 12 board marks are not able to attend the university due to the rigid national test system. Also, Bhagini Nivedita College said that there is a large number of seats that are not filled after counselling and its administration wrote the university to request the university to offer other merit-based admission channels.
Even with this local relaxation, university representatives said the Common University Entrance Test will be the sole method of admission for all undergraduate courses in the whole Delhi University system in the future. But the policy change has not gone down well with the Indian National Teachers Congress, a teachers' organization that has been calling for the university to have a uniform policy for filling vacant seats for all colleges, and not for only two. The teachers' organization has already contacted the Vice-Chancellor and is calling for uniformity and a fair system to protect the integrity of the university and faculty and students’ access to every course.
