DU 'Open Days' to get delayed

New Delhi: The centralized OMR forms of Delhi University, which was introduced in the year 2007, are on their way out and even the colleges will not give out any pre-admission forms from this year. DU officials are still working out the modalities and schedule for the truncated admission season which is likely to make things simple at least for the applicants. So the actual admission process will begin once the cut-offs are out which is likely only in the third week of June.

Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean, of students' welfare, Delhi University said that, since there will be no running around like previous years, students must visit the websites of different colleges to know more about the courses and facilities they offer and also about their faculty. However, outstation students must attend the 'open days' which are likely to be conducted in June. Open days are interactive sessions held at different venues in the city where DU faculty and students provide information about the admission procedure and also counsel aspirants. They used to be held in the third week of May till last year but are likely to get delayed. The existing students, who conduct these sessions, will be busy taking their annual exams till mid-June.

Tuteja also added that the vice-chancellor has asked them to increase the number of open days this year for better dissemination of information. A 20-minute open day presentation will also uploaded on the DU website by May 15. Even the hostel forms will be available once the admissions start. However, those willing to know more about the courses and colleges should wait for the university to upload its information bulletin on the DU website. Individual colleges will also release their prospectus prior to the release of cut-offs.

Even as the colleges work out their cut-offs without any applications in hand, they are also planning to hold separate counseling session for aspirants and their parents. Vinay Kumar Srivastava, principal, Hindu College, said that they plan to set up help desks in the colleges so that the aspirants can be explained about the new system. They may even need counseling for the choice of courses. Even the parents may have some queries which they will be happy to answer. Colleges are also working at uploading all the necessary details online.

An important segment in the open day presentation was the centralized OMR forms. They were introduced in 2007 after doing away with the ICR (intelligent character reader) forms. The idea was to enable aspirants to apply to as many colleges and courses as they wanted on a single form. Earlier, the candidates could apply to only 10 colleges and eight courses on the ICR forms. But with no forms now, aspirants can directly take admission in any course and college if they meet the cut-off.