Government Plans New University to Meet Needs of India’s Students
This year, Delhi University received 93,000 applications from Indian students. This flourishing number of area youth looking to attend postsecondary school would be a cause for pride, but with only 40,000 seats available, it has turned into a cause for concern.
Part of the problem is that Delhi University, which was until recently the only college in the area able to affiliate itself with other institutions, has pushed this possibility to its extreme. Currently affiliated with 81 colleges, of which eight are government colleges and 12 others are governmentally funded, DU finally announced several years ago that it would be unable to grant affililation to any additional institutions.
The void left behind this decision was partially filled in 1998 with the creation of Indraprastha University, which has since granted affiliation to a total of 86 educational institutions, nine of which are managed by the government, and 68 of which are self-financed. Most of the programs that IP University affiliates with are career-oriented tracks, such as law, engineering, management, computer technology, education, communications, medicine, and physiotherapy.
Consequently, many students looking to study humanities, arts, or pure sciences, could only recourse to correspondence courses; many Delhi students were also forced to move or commute to far-off cities to receive an education.
In response, the government has announced its plans to set up a new university, with a majority of seats reserved for students from the capital who have witnessed the crowding of Delhi University. The university will provide courses in the social and general sciences, the arts, and languages, in addition to courses targeted to emerging industries.
A committee, assembled under the Chief Secretary, will conduct a study of the needs of the community and the needs of the prospective students, in order to decide precisely which courses will be offered. One proposal, made with an eye towards distinguishing the new university, suggests that it should run courses that inform the role of Delhi in the development of India as a whole.
The Government has apparently already been looking for plots of land on which to start the new educational institution. A senior Higher Education Department official explained, “We would prefer land near a Metro station so that students can easily approach the university.” The hope is that the new university will become associated with further new colleges and centres after it has been established, in order to answer the demand of India’s bright students.