The University of Delhi was established in 1922 was created by act of Central Legislative assembly.[8]Hari Singh Gour served as the university's first Vice-Chancellor from 1922 to 1926.
Only four colleges existed in Delhi at the time, which were affiliated to University of the Punjab at that time:
All of the above colleges were subsequently affiliated to the university. The university initially had two faculties (Arts and Science) and approximately 750 students.
The seat of power in British India had been transferred from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. The Viceregal Lodge Estate became the residence of the Viceroy of India until October 1933, when it was given to the University of Delhi. Since then, it has housed the office of the vice-chancellor and other offices.[9]
When Sir Maurice Gwyer came to India in 1937 to serve as Chief Justice of British India, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi. During his time, postgraduate teaching courses were introduced and laboratories were established at the university.[10] Members of the faculty included Daulat Singh Kothari in Physics and Panchanan Maheshwari in Botany. Gwyer has been called the "maker of the university". He served as Vice-Chancellor until 1950.[11]
The university has grown into one of the largest universities in India. There are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 91 colleges spread across the city, with 132,435 regular students (114,494 undergraduates and 17,941 postgraduates). There are 261,169 students in non-formal education programmes (258,831 undergraduates and 2,338 postgraduates). DU's chemistry, geology, zoology, sociology, and history departments have been awarded the status of Centres of Advanced Studies. In addition, a number of the university's departments receive grants under the Special Assistance Programme of the University Grants Commission in recognition of their outstanding academic work.[13]
From the year 2022, DU changed its admission pattern from the 12th percentage mark based to CUET[14] (Central Universities Common Entrance Test). Now it will admit students based on their CUET scores. And the 12th class percentage marks will act as a tie-breaker for students securing the same CUET scores.[15]
DU is one of the most sought-after institutions of higher education in India. It also has one of the highest publication counts among Indian universities.[16]
There are 91 colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi, spread across Delhi. North Campus and South Campus serve as the two main campuses of the university.[19]Zakir Husain Delhi College, which is situated in the central part of New Delhi, is the oldest college in Delhi carrying 327 years of legacy.
Some colleges of Delhi University offer hostel facilities to students, but this facility is limited to a specific number of colleges. The allotment of hostels is also done on a merit basis. Only 20 colleges of Delhi University provide hostel facilities to students.[21]
Organisation and administration
Governance
The President of India is the Visitor, the Vice President of India is the Chancellor and the Chief Justice of India is the Pro-Chancellor of the university. The Court, the Executive Council, the Academic Council and the Finance Committee are the administrative authorities of the university.[22]
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the University of Delhi, India 19 July 2009
The University Court is the supreme authority of the university and has the power to review the acts of the Executive Council and the Academic Council. The Executive Council is the highest executive body of the university. The Academic Council is the highest academic body of the university and is responsible for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education, and examination within the university. It has the right to advise the Executive Council on all academic matters. The Finance Committee is responsible for recommending financial policies, goals, and budgets.
Though the colleges are all constituent to the University of Delhi, as it is a collegiate university, depending upon the funding Delhi Colleges broadly fall into three categories:
Colleges established by Educational or Charitable Trusts.
Colleges are maintained by the Delhi Administration, which acts as a trust for them.
Colleges maintained by the University of Delhi.
The colleges maintained by universities get 100% deficit maintenance grants while the colleges run by trusts get 95% deficit grants.[23]
The university has 65 colleges that have liberal courses in humanities, social sciences, and science. Twenty-five of these colleges are affiliated with the South Campus while the others are to the North Campus. The total number of colleges under the university is 77 if the colleges that run professional courses are included. Some colleges also offer evening courses.[24] The university includes an undergraduate management college 'Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, which is ranked as the best B-school in the country at this level, by India Today.[25]
Faculty of Open Learning: The faculty is concerned with distance education.
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
In the past, the Faculty of Technology offered courses in Engineering and Technology. The faculty earlier included the Delhi College of Engineering, before it was transformed into the Delhi Technological University and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology before it was transformed into the Netaji Subhas University of Technology.[28]
Affiliated faculties
The University of Delhi has two affiliated faculties:
Faculty of Homoeopathic Medicine: The faculty awards degrees to its students in Homoepathic medicine.
Centres and institutes
There are about 28 centres and institutes at DU. These are divided into four categories:
Postgraduate centres
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Centre For Biomedical Research — Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Centre for Biomedical Research is a centre where a multispecialty group of scientists participate in teaching and research in basic and applied biomedical sciences.[29]
Delhi School of Economics: Commonly referred to as DSE, it is a centre of postgraduate learning. Starting in the year 1949, the campus of the Delhi School of Economics houses the University of Delhi's Departments of Economics, Commerce, Sociology and Geography.
Delhi School of Journalism - The University of Delhi established the Delhi School of Journalism (DSJ) in 2017 and introduced a Five-Year Integrated Course in Journalism.[31]
Design Innovation Centre (DIC or DUDIC) - A design centre in North Campus established under National Initiative for Design Innovation by Ministry of Human Resource Development. It offers courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students in design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship. The University of Delhi is the main hub and one of the 5 institutions to be granted the DIC project in the first round.[33]
D.S. Kothari Centre for Science, Ethics and Education – The objective of Daulat Singh Kothari Centre for Science, Ethics and Education is to raise the standard of living of the people. It is based on science and technology, and education that determines the level of prosperity, welfare and security of the people.[34]
Agricultural Economics Research Centre – The centre was established and is completely funded by the Ministry of Agriculture of India to carry out research related to the rural economy and agriculture in India. Since then, the centre has completed more than hundreds of policy-oriented studies for the Ministry of Agriculture.
Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystem – The centre works towards strengthening awareness, research and training in priority areas of environmental management of degraded ecosystems. The centre coordinates with the other departments of SES, viz. Department of Environmental Biology and Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Mountain & Hill Environment on issues of biodiversity conservation, habitat loss, pollution and rehabilitation of displaced people due to developmental activities.[35]
Centre for Inter-disciplinary Studies of Mountain & Hill Environment – The concept of the centre revolves around the idea that the upland areas play a crucial role in the production and regeneration of natural resources like fresh water, and forests, besides sustaining a rich genetic diversity of plant and animal life.[36]
The Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education provides opportunities for professional and career development to teachers across the universities of India. CPDHE helps build competence in research methodologies and pedagogy, and expands technologies in ICT, Science and Technology, Environment and Education.[37]
The Centre For Science Education & Communication is for the pursuit and teaching of science. It is an autonomous institution in which studies can be carried out by teachers, students and other interested individuals, for the generation of ideas and materials for the improvement of science education at the university and school levels; and for the promotion of a wider interest in science and scientific issues, through all means of communications.
Developing Countries Research Centre – Its objective is to address political and intellectual issues that emerge from the study of the post-colonial world and integrate these insights into teaching at the undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels. Scholars in Political Science, Economics, Sociology, History, Education, philosophy, Psychology and Literature have been involved in the effort.[38]
The Women's Study Development Centre is the focal point for women's and gender studies in the university. The activities of WSDC place women and gender at the centre of its inquiry focusing mostly on multidisciplinary perspectives of class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and age. It also addresses other socio-political issues concerning women.
The University Science Instrumentation Centre (USIC) is a central facility and houses analytical instruments. Its objective is to provide services to all researchers and students of science departments in the university and the constituent colleges of the University of Delhi.
Recognised institutes
The Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) is dedicated to the cause of those who believe that learning is not age-bound nor classroom-bound, but it takes place throughout life and in a variety of situations.[39]
The Ahilya Bai College of Nursing is a nursing institute. It provides practical exposure to their students, which helps them in acquiring in-depth knowledge of nursing.[40]
The Amar Jyoti Institute of Physiotherapy offers degrees in physiotherapy.
The Durgabai Deshmukh College of Special Education is for blind students. The undergraduate course Special Education for Visually Impaired students has a motto to empower visually impaired pupils.[41]
Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped is an autonomous organisation under the administrative and financial control of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. It provides education to people with disabilities.
School of Rehabilitation Sciences – It aims to disseminate knowledge on developmental therapy and special education in rehabilitation sciences.[42]
There are 240 courses available at the university for undergraduate (UG) and post-graduate (PG).[43]
There are a total 201 courses offered by Delhi University like MBBS, B.Tech. etc. Courses are mainly classified under the three faculties of the central university, including arts, commerce and science.[44]
The university offers 70 post-graduate degrees. DU also offers MPhil in about 28 subjects.[45] In addition to these, it offers 90+ Certificate courses and 28 Diplomas. There are 15 Advanced Diplomas offered in various languages. The university offers PhD courses, which may be awarded by any faculty of the university under ordinance VI-B.[46] But, speciality and super speciality medical degrees like DM, DCh etc., could only be awarded by the faculty of medical sciences.[47] Due to lack of surety in quality of legal education, The Bar Council of India has issued a notification asking Delhi University (DU) to shut down law courses offered in evening shift at its colleges.[48]
The Delhi University Stadium is a rugby sevensstadium, situated within the North Campus. Spread over 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft), the stadium has a seating capacity of 2,500 permanent and 7,500 temporary seats. Construction began in 2008 and the stadium was inaugurated in July 2010, ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[58] It also includes a training area for netball, boxing, women's wrestling and athletics.[59][60]
After the games the stadium was handed over to the university by Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, there after in 2011, the university initiated an upgrade plan, to create a multi-purpose arena with both outdoor and indoor facilities.[61] The university opened access to these facilities in late 2011.[62]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (April 2023)
