Students have given a mixed response to the changes proposed by the Delhi University admission. While some say that students should have the right to apply to as many colleges/ courses they prefer, others say they welcome the changes.

Those who are questioning the cap on the number of colleges are also asking the university to reverse its earlier decision and allow students to opt for as many courses in as many colleges. In 2013-14 academic session, students were asked to opt for only courses and not colleges in the OMR sheets.

Students are questioning the proposed cap on the number of colleges and the courses one can apply to. Cut-offs, they claim, are unpredictable and it is difficult to make accurate choices. Cutoffs, based on aggregate of best of three, has however been welcomed by many while suggesting that language should not be in the best of three subjects for commerce and science stream. Students also agreed that this will further increase the cut-offs significantly.

IIT Kharagpur is now offering students of other colleges a chance to study at the elite institute under the tutelage of an international faculty.

The International Summer and Winter Term (ISWT) will run each year during May-July and December, IIT Kharagpur officials said.

By bringing together participants and faculty from India and abroad, the programme will not only be academically stimulating, but also offer an opportunity to make new friends and interact with about 30 international experts, they said.

These subjects are designed around current and multi-disciplinary themes of science, engineering, management and law, the officials said, adding, the duration of each course is of two weeks or ten working days with a judicious blend of lectures and tutorials per day.

They said participants can be even from the industry and research organizations.

Students registered for these courses will have the opportunity to obtain additional academic credits based on evaluation and grading process, they added.

To develop technical skills of students, CREDAI is seeking to sign a memorandum of understanding with institutions like Anna University, SRM and VIT universities for third and fourth year students.

Just 20 percent of the 2.5 lakh engineering graduates passing out of colleges in Tamil Nadu every year are employable, said Sandeep Mehta, president, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI).

He said that the subject knowledge during four years alone is not sufficient, but other skills are also required to make them efficient employers.

He added that nearly 60 fourth year students would be trained as site supervisors by the member developers of CREDAI to improve their skills. We have also recommended Anna University to make onsite training part of the curriculum for the third year students. They would also be trained as site supervisors and site engineers during their fourth year.

If excess admissions in undergraduate courses are curtailed, the cutoffs will touch an all-time high across all courses in DU this year. The pattern in Delhi’s second largest university, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, where admissions are on, is also not encouraging. It has so far received 34,000 applications for just 250 seats in medicine and the application process will continue till April 10. B Tech programmes have seen 39,000 applications already.

The IP university has received 1.2 lakh applications for about 20,000 UG and 9,000 PG seats. DU has 54,000 seats, but more than 60,000 get admission annually as the university policy allows admission to all candidates meeting the cutoff and fulfilling the additional criteria. The city’s universities together have about 82,000 seats, including those in Ambedkar University, Jamia Millia, Delhi Technological University and Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University. According to CBSE, 2,91,414 students have registered for the Class XII boards, 30,000 more than last year.

The increase in board exam candidates, along with the constant intake capacity, signals higher cutoffs. DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh suggested changes in the undergraduate admissions this year. He said that we will streamline UG admissions further to help aspirants in filling forms with minimum difficulty. And excess admissions have to stop. Because you (colleges) have a sanctioned strength, you must stay within that strength. We will also ensure the reserved category seats are filled.

This means there will be no admission beyond the intake. Last year, there was chaos during admissions to BTech and police were called in to manage the large number of students at Maharaja Agrasen College asking for admission. There were instances of colleges admitting nearly 500 students for 60 seats in chemistry. In 2013, the first cutoff had 43 out of 56 colleges offering commerce at 90 percent and above, while 23 colleges recorded 95 percent and above.