NEW DELHI: Now that aspirants need not apply for admissions in Delhi University, they can just sit back and relax till late June. The centralised OMR forms, introduced in 2007, are on their way out and even the colleges will not give out any pre-admission forms from this year. So the actual admission process will begin once the cut-offs are out which is likely only in the third week of June. DU officials are still working out the modalities and schedule for the truncated admission season which is likely to make things simple at least for the applicants. However, those willing to know more about the courses and colleges should wait for the university to upload its information bulletin on the DU website.
Individual colleges will also release their prospectus prior to the release of cut-offs. "Since there will be no running around like previous years, students must visit the websites of different colleges to know more about the courses and facilities they offer and also about their faculty. However, outstation students must attend the 'open days' which are likely to be conducted in June," said Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean, students' welfare. Even the hostel forms may be available once the admissions start.
Open days are interactive sessions held at different venues in the city where DU faculty and students provide information about the admission procedure and also counsel aspirants. They used to be held in the third week of May till last year but are likely to get delayed. The existing students, who conduct these sessions, will be busy taking their annual exams till mid-June. "However, the vice-chancellor has asked us to increase the number of open days this year for better dissemination of information. We will also upload a 20-minute open day presentation on the DU website by May 15," Tuteja said.
An important segment in the open day presentation was the centralised OMR forms. They were introduced in 2007 after doing away with the ICR (intelligent character reader) forms. The idea was to enable aspirants to apply to as many colleges and courses as they wanted on a single form. Earlier, the candidates could apply to only 10 colleges and eight courses on the ICR forms. But with no forms now, aspirants can directly take admission in any course and college if they meet the cut-off.
Even as the colleges work out their cut-offs without any applications in hand, they are also planning to hold separate counselling session for aspirants and their parents. Vinay Kumar Srivastava, principal, Hindu College, said, "We plan to set up help desks in the colleges so that the aspirants can be explained about the new system. They may even need counselling for the choice of courses. Even their parents may have some queries which we will be happy to answer." Colleges are also working at uploading all the necessary details online. Meera Ramachanadran, principal, Gargi College, said, "We will be holding a meeting in the college soon as the university has requested us to advance the information on any riders or eligibility requirements for different courses. This information will be uploaded on the website soon."
Source: Times of India
