COVID-19 effect: DU mulls to make entire admission process online

Delhi University (DU) is considering making its entire admission process online to minimise the students' visits to the varsity in view of the situation arising out of the coronavirus pandemic, according to officials.

Although the university has put the registration process on hold due COVID-19, its admission branch is working towards strengthening the process.

According to the officials, the varsity has begun the process of collecting information from colleges amid a likelihood that there will be a little time left for preparations after the lockdown ends.

In a letter to principals of all DU colleges on April 9, Professor Shobha Bagai, Dean (Admissions) said, "Therehas been a conscious effort to minimise visits of the students for physical verification of the mandatory documents during the admission process".

"In the current scenario, it has been recommended that it becomes more imperative to have the complete admission process online, which also includes the online verification of the certificates," the letter said.

Bagai also asked the colleges to upload necessary information on their websites and send the link to the admission branch.

In the letter, she also directed the colleges to constitute a "strong" admission team for the process.

"A team of reasonable number of student volunteers along with a Faculty Mentor be formed. The student volunteers must remain available during the time of admission to answer any related query pertaining to the admissions in the college," the letter said.

DU had implemented the first phase of 10 per cent expansion in EWS (Economically Weaker Section) seats in 2019-20 and the remaining 15 per cent enhancement will be completed in 2020-21 academic session, according to the letter.

The colleges have been requested to declare the seats in each course, category-wise on their websites.

"With respect to certain course-wise combination of subjects, if there were any additional eligibility criteria, the same must be communicated to the admission branch by April 13," the letter said.

The colleges have been given a deadline of April 30 for furnishing the remaining information.