The Attack on Higher Education Continues

In yet another attack on higher education, Delhi University has arbitrarily and post-facto enacted archaic rules which has led to a reduction of students admitted in the Mphil/PhD programmes. In complete violation of due process, admission norms and the Constitution, Delhi University has decided to implement the 2016 UGC Gazette notification for Mphil/PhD interviews.

 
According to this notification, a minimum qualification of 50% in the entrance test is mandatory for all students. This notification however, is not binding and Delhi University as a central university has the right to its own selection process. In accordance with this, various departments released an Initial Interview List after the results of the entrance exam with a graded cut-off as is the norm. The qualifying marks, on the basis of which the interview list was released, were set in every department.

 
However, an urgent notification that was issued on 23^rd of July stated that:

“ACCORDING TO THE AMENDMENTS TO ORDINANCE VI, VI-A AND VI-B REGARDING MPHIL AND PHD (AND THE BULLETIN OF INFORMATION FOR MPHIL AND PHD ADMISSIONS), THE QUALIFYING MARKS IN THE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION FOR ALL THE CANDIDATES (RESERVED AND UNRESERVED) IS 50%.”
 
Due to this notification, the cut-off was unjustifiably increased. It must also be kept in mind that this 50% is very hard to achieve with the recently introduced scheme of negative marking which did not exist at the time of the gazette being released.
 
In accordance with this regulation, a revised interview list was released on 23rd July 2018 which had minimal students qualifying through the entrance test with the heavy majority qualifying through UGC NET/JRF with several out of those called through the entrance also having cleared the NET. Furthermore, the gradations based on Reservations were completely ignored and a blanket 50% of the marks was set as qualifying for everybody.
 
This notification has affected students from every single Post-Graduate department with hundreds  losing their seats and continues the trajectory of a larger assault on Higher Education that has continued unabated for the last few years. The exclusionary policies were evident in the entrance Exam this year, which was conducted online for the first time. Instead of a dual language option(Hindi and English), the exam was conducted solely in English. Moreover, despite several reports about a change in weightage of the entrance exam-interview from qualifying to 70/30, the entrance exam remained as qualifying. 
 
Enforcement of the UGC Gazette which sets 50% minimum in entrance test to be eligible for interview for all students (General, SC, ST, OBC and PWD students) is a violation of the Constitution and norms for admission in Mphil/PhD in Delhi University.
 
 

 
 
Below are a few tables which highlight the exclusionary admission policy
1) Quantitative representation of students affected
 

• Botany– 1/103 called through entrance (PhD Candidate) – Candidates have been shortlisted in the basis of 50% cut off (general & OBC category) and 45% cut off (SC & ST category) in the entrance exam.  

 
A crucial point while interpreting this table is that this is the list of students called for the interview and not admission and therefore should be at least 2-3 times the total number of seats for that particular course. 
 
2) Courses with no seats through entrance exam.
           

 
This table highlights the four courses in which no students have been selected through the entrance test for the Interview and the cut-offs for the particular course.   
 

• A copy of the UGC Gazete Notification(2016) can be found here.
• Videos and images of the Protests from the Last two days can be found here.