DU UG Admissions 2025: CUET and CSAS under Fire as Mop-Up Rounds sparks row

Teachers and students are miffed as the DU Administration has now shifted back to Class 12 marks for this mop-up round. With the semester break due in October, newly admitted students may get just six to eight weeks of actual classroom teaching

The Delhi University Undergraduate (UG) admission process has been caught in another storm. Even six weeks after UG classes began at DU, the varsity has opened a mop-up round of admissions to fill thousands of vacant seats.

Teachers and students are miffed as the DU Administration has now shifted back to Class 12 marks for this mop-up round, after insisting on CUET-UG 2025 scores in the earlier phases.

Faculty members associated with the university are claiming that this move of DU exposes the failure of both CUET and DU’s Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS), which were introduced as reforms but have left the system in disarray.

DU Teachers are questioning how the university can use two different criteria in the same academic session. While earlier rounds were based only on CUET, the mop-up round is being held on the basis of Class 12 marks. “On one hand admission is based on CUET results and on the other hand vacant seats are being filled on Class 12 marks. How can the same university adopt two rules in the same year without taking approval of the Academic or Executive Council?” asked Prof Deo Kumar of Rajdhani College.

Colleges Left to Handle Admission Chaos

Adding to the anger, DU has not created a central merit list for the mop-up round. Instead, colleges have been told to make their own lists from thousands of applications within three days. Teacher-in-Charge of departments have been asked to do this work.

“Are teachers supposed to become clerks? The university has simply washed its hands of the responsibility,” a senior faculty member said.

Vacant and Overfilled Seats

As per the faculty members, several colleges still have large numbers of vacant seats, while some others have admitted more students than their sanctioned strength. Teachers say this proves that both CUET and CSAS have collapsed as models of fair admissions.

The mop-up round also means that many students will join midway. Rudrashish Chakarborty, another DU faculty member questioned: “This is the sixth week of the semester. How are these students supposed to cope with six weeks of missed classes in a 14-week term?” With the semester break due in October, newly admitted students may get just six to eight weeks of actual classroom teaching. “This is nothing short of academic injustice,” Chakarborty said.

The timing has also raised suspicions. The mop-up round closes just ahead of DUSU elections on September 18. Some teachers believe the step was taken to increase voter numbers, not to genuinely fix the admission mess.

Teachers have alleged that the larger picture is worrying. DU, once known for smooth and merit-based admissions, is now struggling with delays, confusion and vacant seats. Many believe CUET and CSAS, instead of solving problems, have created new ones.

“This is how public universities are being systematically weakened,” said a faculty member. “If the university does not course-correct, we are looking at a complete breakdown of academic credibility.”

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