Delhi University has just concluded its most massive examination exercise to date, a monumental undertaking that tested the limits of its administrative and academic machinery. The historic effort, conducted under the framework of the National Education Policy (NEP), involved assessing a staggering number of students across the varsity's vast network.
Unprecedented Scale of Examination
The University's Examination Branch released data confirming that semester exams were administered to over seven lakh (700,000) students. This colossal operation spanned nearly 90 affiliated colleges and included the substantial student body of the School of Open Learning (SOL). To facilitate this, the university had to prepare approximately 15,000 distinct question papers and mobilise an army of more than 10,000 teachers for invigilation and evaluation duties.
Multiple Central Evaluation Centres were established across the campus to ensure the assessment process was both timely and transparent. Officials highlighted that the volume of work has seen a consistent upward trend over recent academic sessions, from 2021-22 through to 2025-26. However, the November-December 2025 session broke all previous records.
Record-Breaking Sessions and Single-Day Peaks
The data reveals a sharp escalation in complexity. During the November-December 2025 examination session, the branch managed a record 941 different question papers. This marks a dramatic increase from just 228 papers handled in the same period the previous year, in 2024. Concurrently, the number of students examined in a single session jumped from 69,808 to 86,000 within a year, representing the heaviest workload the branch has ever shouldered.
The pressure on the system was further highlighted by comparing the May-June 2025 and November-December 2025 sessions. Several days witnessed more than 800 papers being conducted, with a single-day peak hitting the 941-paper mark. Managing this required intensive, round-the-clock coordination across every stage: scheduling, secure paper distribution, centralised evaluation, and final result processing.
Dominance of Undergraduate and SOL Candidates
A particularly intense day in December 2025 underscored the scale. On that single day, 2.28 lakh (228,000) DU students appeared for their exams, with undergraduate courses dominating the schedule. An internal status report detailed that 904 unique question papers were administered throughout that 24-hour period.
A significant portion of the candidates came from the School of Open Learning, the university's distance education wing. Of the total examinees that day, 65,413 were SOL undergraduate students, and another 2,002 were from SOL postgraduate programmes. Meanwhile, 1,61,366 students appeared from regular undergraduate colleges. With no regular postgraduate exams held that day, SOL candidates constituted nearly 30 per cent of the total examinees.
This record-breaking examination exercise sets a new benchmark for Delhi University, demonstrating both the expanding reach of higher education in the capital and the significant logistical challenges that come with implementing large-scale policies like the NEP. The successful completion of this cycle is seen as a testament to the university's evolving administrative capabilities.
