Classes at Delhi University’s first semester of the 2024-25 academic session will begin on August 29, three weeks later than usual, due to the late publication of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG), officials stated.
The announcement on Saturday was made about a week after the CUET-UG findings were released on July 28, which was over a month later than the June 30 deadline. For admission to undergraduate courses at the majority of central universities, including DU, the CUET-UG test is offered as a single window exam.
This year’s admission processes in universities across the country has been riddled with delays due to several controversies including the leak of question papers in tests conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA), which is also tasked the responsibility of conducting the undergraduate entrance tests for all the central universities.
Initially, classes in the first semester classes were expected to start in the first week of August, but were delayed twice – first tentatively moved to August 16, and now to August 29. Delhi University vice chancellor Yogesh Singh had on July 13 said that while academic calendar of other semesters remained unaffected, first semester for the courses where admission is through CUET-UG would likely start on August 16.
In the 2023-24 session, classes for DU’s first session kicked off on August 16.
The reason for the delay, officials said, was that the mapping of the delayed CUET-UG results would take more time.
On Thursday, DU announced the commencement of the second phase of admissions to UG courses through the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) portal.
Phase one, under which students registered in the CSAS portal, commenced on May 28 and is still going on simultaneously with the phase two of admissions. The registration portal will close at 4.59pm on August 7
“We have to map our results with those sent by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the CUET so that students can see what preferences of subjects and colleges they are eligible for. That mapping process is very detailed and takes some time, which is why we have pushed the start of the session to August 29,” said DU registrar Vikas Gupta.
According to DU’s notification, the first semester exams will be held in January 2025, ending on January 25, 2025. The second semester will begin on January 27, 2025.
Gupta said that the number of registered students is higher this year compared to recent years. He added, “Since there are a lot more students with the same score, we have to take our time to tally everything and also use Class 12 marks for students with the same scores.”
DU aims to release at least two lists of seat allocations this year. “We will decrease the number of lists and increase the number of seat allocations per list to bring down the amount of time required,” Gupta said.
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