What ails Delhi University? 9,000 seats going begging despite 7 rounds of admissions

Demand for seats at the once sought-after Delhi University (DU) is on the decline. But what can explain the 9,000-odd undergraduate seats lying vacant — out of 71,000 across its colleges, several of them top educational institutions — despite seven rounds of admissions being held, and classes already underway for six weeks into the 2025–26 academic session?

According to figures released by the DU registrar at the start of the mop-up round, the remaining vacancies are all in the reserved category seats, and spread across affiliated DU colleges in the science, humanities and commerce disciplines.

The number of vacancies for the undergraduate courses has been almost tripling over the years — so this isn’t new, it is a trend; but the uptick is certainly a little worrying.

In 2023 there were 1,000 vacancies; in 2024, this went up to 3,000. And now we‘ve triple that last figure.

In a significant departure from the usual rules, the mop-up round does not require applicants to submit scores from the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) introduced in 2022 either. Admissions are simply being offered based on the applicant’s Class 12 marks.

Readers may recall that the CUET–Central Admission System (CAS) was introduced in 2022 under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 as a common entrance test for central universities. Prior to that, DU followed a cut-off system where top colleges often closing admissions below 98–100 per cent marks.

The new CUET–CAS system centralised the process under DU, taking powers to regulate cut-offs away from individual colleges. Though aimed at bringing uniformity and fairness, critics argue that CUET has instead led to higher seat vacancies and delays and mismatch in college–course preferences for students.

The colleges with the maximum numbers of vacancies this year, according to the official data reported by shiksha.com, include Bhagini Nivedita College (709 seats), Aditi College (674), Zakir Husain College (387), Kalindi College (385), Dyal Singh College (311), Bharti College (307), Shyam Lal College (301) and Deshbandhu College (295).

The mop-up round — the seventh admission round — has raised serious questions about the integrity and efficiency of the entire admission process and has left students, faculty and education experts wondering how any new students who do join at this juncture will cope with the loss of six weeks of lessons in the first semester (which spans 14 weeks).

The All India Ad-hoc Teachers’ Association (AADTA) has termed the situation as “grave” for the reputation of India’s most prestigious university.

It has argued that the CUET–CAS system has not only stretched out the admission process for an unnecessarily long period, but also created a mismatch between students’ choices and college allotments. “This impacts both teaching and learning, and may even burden teachers in the future,” the association said.

Dr. Pallav, associate professor, Hindu College, told National Herald, “The vacant seats are indeed a matter of concern and a question mark on our traditional education system. Although this problem is not there in Hindu College, the lack of students coming to Delhi University is still surprising.”

He, however, also attributed this to the increasing number of students choosing management, computer and technical education, and veering away from the pure humanities, science and commerce courses.

“In a country as diverse as India, if students choose education that is only useful for the market, then it is also a warning for our democracy, culture and plurality,” he added, though.

Ronak Khatri, president of the Delhi University Students’ Union, minced no words in blaming the government and the administration for this mess. He alleged that a fraud was being committed in the name of admissions.

“For the last two years, DU has not released any merit list of students seeking admission. What is the reason for this?” he asked.

Khatri told National Herald that the dwindling interest in DU colleges among students was also due to the poor or non-existent facilities on offer, both within the classroom and elsewhere on campus. “We have raised the issue of poor infrastructure several times. Fans don’t work, there is no drinking water, no washrooms... DU has enough funds and we have asked for ACs in the classrooms too, but to no avail.”

A senior professor, Mithuraaj Dhusiya, reportedly told the New Indian Express, “What began as misgovernance in state universities — marked by delays in admissions, examinations, results and issuance of degrees — has now spread to central universities like DU, which were once centres of academic excellence.”

The glaring inconsistencies in the admission criteria too are a matter of concern. “Why should the final mop-up round be based solely on Class 12 marks, while earlier rounds were governed by CUET scores? This reflects a complete lack of standardisation and fairness,” he added.

As students await further developments, the academic community continues to call for a review and overhaul of the admission framework, emphasising the need for transparency, consistency and a focus on academic quality rather than administrative expediency.