Delhi University (DU) has started its registration process for the admission into its varsity from May 30th. The university a day before the commencement of its registration procedure had declared some amendments, which is creating concern for the students.
DU has made it mandatory for the aspirants to include Mathematics in their ‘Best of Four’ subjects, if they want admission to Economics (Hons.). However, while DU officials said the policy would be the same in colleges of the varsity, minority colleges such as St. Stephen’s and Jesus and Mary (JMC), which have their own admission process, have decided to stick to the old rule.
Earlier the students only had to pass in Mathematics in class 12th to apply for Economics. The reason behind the compulsation of the subject is to prepare students for compulsory skills such as data crunching and analytics.
According the OSD admissions, Sukanta Dutta, all colleges are required to follow the admission policy.
However, St. Stephens prospectus states, “Students, who want to apply to Economics (Hons) should have been very comfortable with class 12th Mathematics. There is no mention of Math in the best of four subjects. C B Jha, tutor for admissions at St. Stephens said, “Students have study Maths in class 12th and there will be a rider on that. When the interview is conducted, the department will decide what the rider will be, but Maths doesn’t necessarily have to be included in the best of four subjects as is the case in other DU colleges.”
“We have decided to continue with the old policy. We had put out our prospectus before DU announced this change. We are a minority institution and we have the constitutional right to conduct our own admission process, he added.”
Those applying for Economics (Hons) must have studied Mathematics compulsory in class 12th. Their additional criteria is that the student should have scored at least 80% in Math but there is no condition on the subject being included in the best four. Several students have approached DU over this change in rule, reported by The Indian Express and stated by JMC.