The admission process and teaching in universities and colleges in the national capital was overhauled this year with the introduction of a common entrance test and the adoption of the new National Education Policy. Universities have either partially or fully adopted the Common University Entrance Test, abandoning the old practice of admitting students from the 2022-23 academic session.
While Delhi University (DU) admits students on the basis of their class 12 marks, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have separate entrance exams for admission to undergraduate courses.
CUET has become the second largest entrance exam in the country after Joint Entrance Examination-Mains (JEE) for engineering colleges, with over 14.9 lakh candidates appearing.
The CUET, conducted by the National Testing Agency for the first time this year, had left candidates in the lurch due to last-minute change in exam centres, large-scale cancellation and postponement of examinations and delay in the schedule.
read | Whether to take CUET route or not: Jamia may decide in January
Through the new admission process, Delhi University admitted students to 79 undergraduate programs across its 67 colleges, departments and centres. In September, it had also launched an online platform for those seeking admission through the Common Seat Allocation System.
Through CUET, JNU offers admission to 10 undergraduate courses, most of which were in Bachelor of Arts (Hons) courses in foreign languages.
However, some universities including JMI partially adopted the CUET process. JMI admits students to 10 courses through a common test, while admission to other programs is done through exams conducted by the university.
These 10 courses include: Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Turkish Language and Literature, Sanskrit, French and Francophone Studies, Spanish and Latin American Studies, History, Hindi and Economics, Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and Physics, and Business in Solar Energy graduate .
From this academic session, the universities implemented the national education Policy-2020 (NEP) which proposes reforms in higher education including school as well as technical education, with emphasis on multilingualism and promotion of Indian languages, holistic and multidisciplinary education with multiple entry and exit options .
The new policy replaces the National Policy on Education (NPE) of 1986 and aims at universalisation of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 per cent gross enrollment ratio by 2030. It aims to increase the proportion in higher education to 50 per cent by 2025.
Delhi University has become the first Central University to adopt the four-year undergraduate course as prescribed by NEP-2020. Jamia and JNU are also implementing this policy.
During the beginning of the year, as the Covid situation improved across the country, the demand for reopening of universities intensified.
Students’ bodies staged protests in Delhi demanding that major universities move from online mode to offline teaching.
He claimed that campuses had been closed for almost two years and teaching was online, “the standard of education had gone down”, and that students from low-income groups and rural areas did not have access to tools for virtual learning . In February, DU, JNU and JMI were among the universities in the national capital that started classes in physical mode for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Along with the pandemic, CUET also delayed the academic calendar in universities, including Delhi University, which drew criticism.
This year, JNU was graced with its first woman vice-chancellor, Santashree Dhulipudi Pandit, a political science professor and an alumnus of the university. The 59-year-old had completed his M.Phil and PhD in International Relations from JNU.
Pandit started her teaching career at the University of Goa in 1988 and shifted to the University of Pune in 1993. She has held administrative positions in various academic bodies and has also been a member and visitor nominee of the University Grants Commission, Indian Council of Social Science Research. to Central Universities.
The premier institution was in the news for clashes between students in April and later in December, when the walls of one of its buildings were defaced with “anti-Brahmin” slogans.
In April, clashes broke out in one of its hostels after the JNU students’ union, led by the Left-backed All India The students’ union alleged that members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) prevented residents from having non-vegetarian food. ABVP was also accused of assaulting the mess secretary of Kaveri Hostel.
The ABVP had denied the allegations and claimed that ‘Leftists’ had disrupted the puja program organized at the hostel on Ram Navami. Both sides accused each other of stone-pelting and injuring their members.
In December, several walls of a JNU building were painted with ‘anti-Brahmin’ slogans, images of which were widely shared on social media.
This year also saw a tussle between Delhi University and its constituent college St Stephen’s over the interview process for admission.
While the college had refused to be interviewed, DU had said it “stands firm” on its decision to declare “null and void” all admissions made by the college in violation of the CUET guidelines.
In an exchange of letters between the college and the university, St Stephen’s said it would give 85 per cent weightage to the CUET score and 15 per cent weightage to the physical interview for “all categories of candidates”.
The matter went to the Delhi High Court which in September ordered St Stephen’s to follow the university’s admission policy. The college approached the Supreme Court, which refused to stay the High Court order, thereby ending the dispute.
This year adhoc teachers also demanded that they be absorbed through outright regulation.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)