Delhi University (DU) is likely to start its registration process for admissions to undergraduate courses on July 15, the varsity's acting vice-chancellor P C Joshi said, while asserting that the admissions will be based on merit. Officials said they are anticipating the fact that all school boards would have declared results by then.
Following the cancellation of Class 12 board examinations by the CBSE and CISCE in view of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said discussions will be held with the admission committee and the academic council of the university to finalise the process of admission to UG courses.
Every year, the varsity's colleges declare cut-offs for courses and students meeting the criteria apply to the respective colleges. A decision from the Education ministry is also awaited on the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET).
Joshi is a member of the CUCET committee, which had submitted its report to the Education Ministry. A decision on conducting a common entrance test for all central universities is pending.
"The admissions will be merit-based. The various boards are going to give us some marks. Then there is the CUCET exam for which we had already sent a proposal. The ministry has to take a call on whether it has to implement it or not and it will depend on the assessment of the COVID situation," he told PTI.
Joshi said there are two possibilities -- either the CUCET will be held or it will not be conducted.
"If it is held we will take it as merit. If CUCET does not happen this year like the board exams, we will take the board exam evaluation. The various boards will definitely choose some mature method of evaluation. On the basis of those, we will prepare our merit list accordingly," he said.
The acting VC said the chances of CUCET happening this year seem less owing to the coronavirus situation.
"There are strong chances that we might start registration by July 15 if all the boards cancel their exams," he added.
The varsity anticipates that will the various state boards also following suit in cancelling exams, the results might be declared by July.
"The varsity is likely to commence the registration process by July 15. We anticipate that by that time, most of the boards will not only decide what they are going to do but will also declare their results," said Rajeev Gupta, Chairman, Admissions, DU.
On the final decision to conduct CUCET, Gupta said, "We will follow what the ministry says. We are awaiting their guidelines."
Last year, the admission process was done completely online due to the first wave of the pandemic.