New Delhi: Amid row over anti-national activities inside the university campus, for the first time in last 5 years - the number of applications for admission to the upcoming academic session in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has dropped.
The university administration has received over 76,000 applications for admission for around 2,700 seats in various programmes, a by 4.5 per cent decline from last year. The university had got 79,000 applications in 2015 and 72,000 candidates applied in 2014.
With the university being caught up in a controversy over an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, concerns were expressed worldwide that the university’s image will suffer a setback because of the row.
Bhupinder Zutshi, Director Admissions, however said that the decline can’t be attributed to a particular reason.
“The number of applications received are 28 times more than the number of seats. This reflects the kind of competition which exists among admission seekers for the university,” Zutshi said.
When specifically asked about the reason behind this decline, he said, “In the recent years a fluctuation of around 3,000-4,000 applications has been witnessed off and on. The trends of any of the years cannot be attributed to a particular reason”.
On the other hand, members of the university’s teachers association argue that the branding of the university as ‘anti-national’ in wake of the sedition row, is a ‘superfluous’ notion which exists only in a section of society and not among admission seekers.
Data shows that the number of applications for biotechnology programmes reduced from 8,203 in 2015-16 to 6,347 this year. But applications for these courses have been dropping firmly in the past years.
In total, JNU received 5,479 less applications this year for its undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes.
The month-long application period closed last week and the entrance exams for the courses will be held next month.
