Delhi University has firmly stated it will not discontinue any of its undergraduate courses, even as some programs report low student enrolment. The university's vice-chancellor, Yogesh Singh, clarified this position on Wednesday, addressing concerns about thousands of vacant seats under the new Common University Entrance Test (CUET) based admission process.
CUET Not to Blame for Vacant Seats, Says V-C
In an official statement, V-C Yogesh Singh argued that the vacant seats cannot be attributed to the CUET system. He pointed out that even under the old Class XII marks-based admission method, a significant number of seats routinely remained unfilled. To back his claim, Singh presented data from the university's admission branch.
The data revealed that in 2019, a year before both CUET and the Covid-19 pandemic, the university could fill only 68,213 out of its 70,735 sanctioned undergraduate seats. This left a vacancy rate of 3.56%, proving that the issue predates the entrance test.
New System Brings Transparency and Control
In contrast, Singh highlighted the performance of the current CUET-based Centralised Seat Allocation System (CSAS). For the 2025 academic session, the university recorded 72,229 admissions against a sanctioned strength of 71,642 seats. This indicates the new system is effectively managing intake.
The Vice-Chancellor criticized the previous cut-off based system for leading to "large-scale over-admissions." He cited extreme instances where colleges admitted over 200 students for programs with a sanctioned intake of just 11. "Such over and under-admissions are now manageable," Singh asserted, crediting the algorithmic and preference-driven CUET system for bringing logic, transparency, and accountability to the process.
Way Forward: Reshuffling, Not Shutdown
While ruling out the shutdown of any undergraduate course, the university has instructed its colleges to take corrective measures for programs struggling with enrolment. The primary directive is to reshuffle the subject combinations offered under the BA programme. This move aims to align course offerings with current student preferences and market demand, thereby improving seat occupancy in future admission cycles.
The university's stance reinforces its commitment to the CUET framework, viewing it as a more structured and fair mechanism for university admissions across the country, despite the teething problems and criticism it has faced.
