Humanities courses have emerged as the most sought after among the students seeking admission in the Delhi University, with BA (Hons) English drawing the maximum number of applications this year.
The registrations process for DU, that culminated on 22 June, saw a total of 3,67,895 registrations on the university's portal, of whom 2,58,388 candidates actually proceeded and made payment.
The BA (Hons) English course saw the maximum number of applications at 1,42,979, followed by BA (Hons) Political Science at 1,30,240 and BA Programme at 1,25,519, as per data available on DU admission website.
The BA (Hons) Economics was the fourth most popular course with 1,24,538 applications. The changed criteria for BA (Hons) Economics had come in for criticism from candidates.
Till last year, if a student had 50 percent in Mathematics, he could apply for BA (Hons) in Economics, but this year it had been made mandatory for 'Best of Four', which meant it had to be part of the top four subjects, aggregate of which will be considered for admission.
However, the Delhi High Court had intervened and directed that the varsity follow last year's criteria.
The BA (Hons) History emerged the fifth most popular course, drawing 1,20,590 applications. The other courses that were among the top 10 were BA(Hons) Psychology, BA (Hons) Journalism, BA (Hons) Sociology and BA(Hons) Geography.
The B Com was the tenth popular course and received 1,06,549 applications and was the only non-humanities course among the list.
Drop in Number of Applicants, But Rise in Female Candidates
According to The Times of India, number of applicants for DU dropped by 20,000 this year with 2.58 lakh applicants compared to last year’s 2.78 lakh.
DU’s OSD (admissions) Sukanto Dutta told TOI that the steps taken to curb the duplication of the forms is likely to be one of the reasons that the total number of applications estimates less than last year.
“Earlier, there were instances where an applicant would put wrong information and since there was no editing option, the applicant would submit a new form. With the introduction of a ‘one-time correction option’, we have made sure that applicants get a one-time chance to rectify mistakes,” Dutta told TOI.
He also said that early declaration of exam results might also be one of the reasons as people apply for for other universities.
The number of applicants have also seen a rise in number of female candidates than male. While 1,29,753 female students have applied for admission, 1,28,634 male students have filled application forms.
“In recent years, girls have outperformed boys in board exams and that is the reason why more and more girls are now joining DU for higher education.” He said the highest number of applicants is yet again from Delhi this year (1,11,433) and “it is natural that people who are natives of Delhi will apply in DU, followed by those from nearby states of Haryana and UP,” admission committee head Rajiv Gupta told TOI.
This year also saw the first-ever admissions under the new EWS category with 9091 applicants applying under it, TOI reported.
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