NEW DELHI: While over 59,000 out of the sanctioned 70,000 seats at Delhi University (DU) have been filled after the first allocation round, seats in several science courses, including top colleges, remain vacant. For instance, 13 seats at Hansraj College are vacant in the unreserved category for B.Sc (H) zoology while there are 12 and 10 unfilled seats for B.Sc (H) botany and electronics, respectively. Data from the college programme preference count window shows the institute received over 12,000 applications for zoology, more than 10,000 for botany and over 9,000 for electronics. Similarly, at Kirori Mal College, 14 seats lie vacant for B.Sc (H) physics while at Ramjas College there are 12 vacant seats each for B.Sc (H) chemistry and B.Sc (H) life sciences. Even at other popular colleges like Miranda House, seats for courses like life sciences, zoology and botany are not yet filled while at St Stephen’s College, there are vacant seats in the unreserved category for B.Sc (H) chemistry and B.Sc (H) physics. Meanwhile, officials at Sri Venkateswara College said out of about 250 vacant seats, 200 are from science courses. At 14, B.Sc (H) biological sciences has the highest number of vacant seats in the unreserved category, followed by B.Sc (H) electronics (12), B.Sc (H) chemistry (eight), B.Sc (H) biochemistry and B.Sc (H) zoology (seven each). Several DU professors said a delayed admission process may have led to students securing admissions in private colleges. Sanjay Batra, admission convenor and chemistry professor at Sri Venkateswara College, said, “One reason could be that students have already gone for professional courses, private engineering or medical colleges. It’s also possible they were allotted a college of their choice and are weighing their options.” For the first time, DU is following the Common Seat Allocation System for undergraduate admissions based on scores obtained by aspirants in CUET. Candidates were required to indicate their choice of college and programmes in an order of preference. Aspirants can ‘upgrade’ their allotment till 4.59pm Thursday. Abha Dev Habib, physics professor at Miranda House, said, “Students will try to shift to better colleges in the second round. At that point, the crisis will come to off-campus colleges. One reason for seats remaining vacant in the first round can be because the admission process began so late, especially with respect to private colleges.” Habib added, “The fact that seats are vacant reflects that students did not choose to come. This was bound to happen as the delay in admissions will also affect their preparation for JEE and NEET. Had classes begun in August, they would still have some time to figure out everything. But now it’s the peak period and they are under pressure to perform well in those exams. Students have already decided their trajectory – either they have joined private universities or choose to drop a year and prepare for other entrances.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/science-seats-still-up-for-grabs-at-du-/articleshow/95106949.cms