University of Delhi

University of Delhi

Motto in English	"Dedicated to Truth"
Type	Public
Established	1922
Endowment	$ 474.650 million (inc. colleges)[1]
Chancellor	Vice President of India
Vice-Chancellor	Prof. Yogesh K Tyagi
Students	132,435
Undergraduates	114,494
Postgraduates	17,941
Location	New Delhi, Delhi, India 28°41′N 77°13′E / 28.69°N 77.21°E / 28.69; 77.21Coordinates: 28°41′N 77°13′E / 28.69°N 77.21°E / 28.69; 77.21
Campus	Urban
Colours	Purple
Nickname	DU
Mascot	Elephant
Affiliations	ACU AIU NAAC Universitas 21 UGC
Website	du.ac.in

The University of Delhi informally known as Delhi University is a public central collegiate university, located in New Delhi, India.

History

The University of Delhi was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential university by an Act of the then Central Legislative Assembly of the British India.^[2] The University was originally to be named Prince Charles University. But then, Rai Kedarnath, counsellor to the Chief Commissioner of Delhi and founder of Ramjas College, explained to the Education Minister that so naming the university might have bad effects, as the university might fail, which would certainly antagonise the Prince. He suggested the name by which it is known today.^[3] Only four colleges existed in Delhi at the time: St. Stephen's College founded in 1881, Hindu College founded in 1899, Zakir Husain Delhi College (then known as The Delhi College), founded in 1692 and Ramjas College founded in 1917, which were subsequently affiliated to the university. The university thus had modest beginnings with only four colleges, two faculties (Arts and Science), and about 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.^[4]

When Sir Maurice Gwyer came to India to serve as Chief Justice of British India, he was nominated as Vice-Chancellor of University of Delhi. The numerous improvements were brought in University including the introduction of the postgraduate teaching courses and the establishment of laboratories were entirely due to the efforts of Sir Maurice.^[5] Realising the importance of a distinguished faculty to act as role models, relentlessly Sir Maurice searched for talent all over the country and roped in men of eminence to the University, such as Prof. Daulat Singh Kothari in Physics, Prof. T.R. Sheshadri in Chemistry, Prof. Panchanan Maheshwari in Botany and Dr. M.L. Bhatia in Zoology. Sir Maurice Gwyer is also called the "maker of university". He served the post of vice-chancellor till 1950.^[6]

The silver jubilee year of the university in 1947 coincided with India's independence, and the national flag was hoisted in the main building for the first time by VKRV Rao, the convocation ceremony for the year, however could not be held due to partition of India, thus a special ceremony was held in 1948, which was attended by Prime Minister of India - Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Mountbatten, Abul Kalam Azad, Zakir Hussain and S.S. Bhatnagar. Twenty-five years later the golden jubilee celebrations of 1973 were attended by then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Amrita Pritam and M S Subbulakshmi.^[7]

Present form

The University has grown into one of the largest universities in India. At present, there are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 77 colleges and 5 other recognised institutes spread all over the city, with 132,435 regular students which includes 114,494 undergraduates & 17,941 postgraduates. There are also 261,169 students in non-formal education programme, of which UG students make up 258,831 where as PG students are 2,338 in number. Five departments namely Chemistry, Geology, Zoology, Sociology and History have been awarded the status of the Centres of Advanced Studies. These Centres of Advanced Studies have carved a niche for themselves as centres of excellence in teaching and research in their respective areas. In addition, a good number of university departments are also receiving grants under the Special Assistance Programme of the UGC in recognition of their outstanding academic work.^[8]

DU is one of the most sought after institution of higher education in India. It is also among the university with highest publication count in India.^[9]

The annual honorary degree ceremony of the University have been conferred upon several distinguished people, which includes Amitabh Bachchan, former Chief Minister of Delhi - Sheila Dikshit, Cartoonist R. K. Laxman, Scientist CNR Rao^[10] and former Prime Minister of United Kingdom - Gordon Brown.^[11]

Campus

There are about 77 colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi, spread out all over the Delhi. There are two main campuses of the University: the North Campus & the South Campus.

North Campus

North Campus hosts the three founding colleges of the university which constituted the University of Delhi when it was founded. North campus proper now has 10 colleges geographically centred on the Faculty of Arts, Science and Law which are Daulat Ram College, Hansraj College, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, SGTB Khalsa College. Ramjas College, St. Stephen's College and Shri Ram College of Commerce. The extended off campus also has colleges in Old Rajendra Nagar, Pitampura and Ashok Vihar areas of Delhi.^[12] The campus also houses other centres and institutes of Delhi which includes Cluster Innovation Centre, Delhi School of Economics, etc.^[13]

South Campus

The University of Delhi started South Campus in 1973 as an effort to cope with the enormous expansion while continuing to maintain its high academic standards and to facilitate access for South Delhi residents. It moved to its present location on Benito Juarez Road, near Dhaula Kuan, in 1984. The Campus is spread across 28 hectares (69 acres) of green, hilly terrain and its buildings blend attractively with the natural surroundings. The various Departments are located in the Faculty of Arts, Inter-disciplinary, Applied Sciences and the S.P. Jain Centre for Management Studies.^[14] South Campus has 7 colleges which are Atma Ram Sanatan Dharama College, Aryabhatta College, Jesus and Mary College, Maitreyi College, Moti Lal Nehru College, Ram Lal Anand College and Sri Venkateshwara College.

Others

The East Campus is being developed with the University College of Medical Sciences as its nucleus, while the West Campus will have as its focus on Engineering and Technology.The west campus currently contains faculty of technology along with its affiliate Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology located in Dwarka suburbs is University's only top tier engineering college^[15]

First Vice Chancellor

Dr. Sir Hari Singh Gour (1922-1926)

Faculties and departments

The University of Delhi has 16 faculties and 86 academic departments which offer courses in a wide variety of subjects and concentrations.The depth and breadth of the syllabus are very vast, extending well beyond course offerings to many other special programmes and research opportunities.The honours programmes offered by the varsity for a wide spectrum of subjects are highly sought after by students from all over the country.^[16]

• Faculty of Applied Social Sciences & Humanities: The faculty has two departments namely - Business Economics and Slavonic & Finno-Ugrian Studies.^[17]
• Faculty of Arts: It has 14 departments including Arabic, Buddhist Studies, English, Germanic & Romance Studies, Hindi, Library & Information Science, Linguistics, Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, Persian, Philosophy, Psychology, Punjabi, Sanskrit, and Urdu.
• Faculty of Commerce and Business Studies: It has two departments:- (i) Commerce (ii) Financial Studies.^[18]
• Faculty of Education: There is only one department of Faculty of Education i.e. Department of Education.
• Faculty of Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences: There are seven-departments which are of Bio-Physics, Biochemistry, Electronics Science, Genetics, Microbiology, Physical Education & Sports Sciences, and Plant Molecular Biology.
• Faculty of Law: The only department is of Department of Law.^[19]
• Faculty of Management Studies: It also has only one Department of Business Management & Industrial Administration.^[20]
• Faculty of Mathematical Sciences: It has four departments Computer Science, Mathematics, Operational Research and Statistics.
• Faculty of Medical Sciences: Faculty of Medical Sciences provides education to medical education to students of the University of Delhi. It has 22 departments - Anaesthesiology, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, Community Medicine, Dentistry, Dermatology, ENT, Forensic Medicine, Medicine, Microbiology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology,Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Paediatrics, Paediatrics Surgery, Pathology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Psychiatry, Radio Diagnosis, Radio Therapy, and Surgery.^[21]
• Faculty of Music and Fine Arts: The faculty has two departments - Fine Arts and Music.
• Faculty of Open Learning: The faculty is concerned with distance education. It has one department - Distance & Continuing Education.
• Faculty of Science: It has 10 departments - Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Geology, Home Science, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physics & Astrophysics, and Zoology.
• Faculty of Social Sciences: It has 9 departments - Adult Continuing Education & Extension, African Studies, East Asian Studies, Economics, Geography, History, Political Science, Social Work and Sociology.^[22]
• Faculty of Technology: The faculty offers courses in Engineering and Technology . The faculty earlier included the Delhi College of Engineering, before it was transformed into the Delhi Technological University currently it includes only Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology. It has 8 departments - Applied Sciences & Humanities, Computer Engineering, Information Texhnology, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Manufacturing Process and Automation Engineering, Instrumentation & Control Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Bio Technology ^[23]

Affiliated faculties

University of Delhi has two affiliated facilities:

• .Faculty of Ayurvedic & Unani Medicine: The faculty awards to degrees to its students in Ayurvedic medicine and Unani medicine. It has two departments, Department of Ayurvedic Medicine and other being Department of Unani Medicine.^[24]
• .Faculty of Homeopathic Medicine: It provides education in field of Homeopathy. And there's only one department under the faculty i.e. of Department of Homeopathic Medicine.

Constituents

University of Delhi have colleges and some other institutions as its constituents.

Colleges

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 maintained by Delhi Administration, which acts as trust for them.
• Colleges maintained by University of Delhi.

The colleges maintained by university get 100% deficit maintenance grant while the colleges run by trusts get 95% deficit grants.^[25]

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. These colleges except two — Lady Irwin College and Institute of Home Economics — are undergraduates The number of colleges under the university goes up to 77, if the colleges that run professional courses are included. Some colleges also offer evening courses.^[26]

For all the colleges of the University of Delhi, see: Colleges of the University of Delhi.

Centres and institutes

There are about 27 centres and institutes of 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 multispecialty group of scientists work as a cohesive team and participate in active teaching and research in some of the frontline areas of basic and applied biomedical sciences.^[27]
• Institute of Informatics and Communication — IIC is a premiere institute gives birth to and nourishes the minds that go on to innovate in the field of communication and information technology in its nurturing environment.^[28]
• Delhi School of Economics: Commonly referred to as DSE, it is a centre of post graduate learning. Started 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.

Centres

• Cluster Innovation Centre aims to present its students with a creative and innovative study system that involves hands-on projects and connects research with application in society. CIC is supported by the National Innovation Council and aided by Union Human Resource Development Ministry.^[29]
• D.S. Kothari Centre for Science, Ethics and Education — The principal objective of Daulat Singh Kothari Centre for Science, Ethics and Education is to raise the standard of living of our people. It is based on science & technology, and education that determines the level of prosperity, welfare and security of the people.^[30]
• 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 rural economy and agriculture in India. Since then, the centre has completed more than hubdreds 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 closely 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.^[31]
• 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, forests, besides sustaining a rich genetic diversity of plant and animal life.^[32]
• The Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education is committed to provide opportunities for professional and career development to teachers across the universities of India. Keeping in view the role of higher education in national development, CPDHE helps build competence in research methodologies and pedagogy, expansion of technologies in ICT, Science and Technology, Environment and Education.^[33]
• 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 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 critically address important political and intellectual issues that emerge from the study of the post colonial world and integrate these insights into teaching at the undergraduate, post-graduate and research levels in the vast educational network of the University of Delhi. Scholars in Political Science, Economics, Sociology, History, Education, Philosophy, Psychology and Literature have been involved in the effort.^[34]
• 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, age. It also addresses several other contemporary socio-political issues concerning women.
• The University Science Instrumentation Centre (USIC) is a central facility and houses sophisticated analytical instruments. Its main 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 all kinds of situations.^[35]
• The Ahilaya Bai College of Nursing is a leading nursing institute. It provides practical exposure to their students, which helps them in acquiring in-depth knowledge of nursing.^[36]
• The Amar Jyoti Institute of Physiotherapy offers degrees in physiotherapy and the institute sees it as a profession.
• The Durgabai Deshmukh College of Special Education is especially meant for Blind students. The undergraduate course Special Education for Visually Impaired students has a motto to empower visually impaired pupils in long run.^[37]
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped is an autonomous organisation under the administrative and financial control of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. It provides education to people with disabilities.
• School of Rehabilitation Sciences — Its aim is to disseminate knowledge on developmental therapy and special education on rehabilitation sciences.^[38]

Affiliated institutions

• Army Hospital (Research & Referral)
• Central Health Education Bureau
• G.B. Pant Hospital
• Hindu Rao Hospital
• Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences
• Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences
• Kasturba Hospital
• National Institute of Health & Family Welfare

Courses

There are 240 courses available in University of Delhi for UG(87) and PG(153).

UG Course Intake Education, Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Manufacturing Process and Automation Engineering, Biotechnology, Unani Medicine, Ayurveda

PG Course Intake Political Science, Sanskrit, English, Mathematics, Commerce, History, Chemistry, Philosophy, Economics, Others

College AIR - 15, Overall Score - 289.54, National Rating - AAAA+^[39]

There are as many as 75 courses in University running under the 3-year under-graduate programme structure, with few exceptions like MBBS, BTech etc. Courses are mainly classified under the three faculties of the central university, including arts, commerce and science.^[40]

The University offers 70 post-graduate degrees. DU also offers MPhil in about 28 subjects.^[41] In addition to these, it offers 90+ Certificate courses and 28 Diplomas. There are also 15 Advanced Diplomas offered in various languages. The University offers PhD courses, which may be awarded by any faculty of university under ordinance VI-B.^[42] But, speciality and super speciality medical degrees like DM, DCh etc., could only be awarded by the faculty of medical sciences.^[43] 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.^[44]

Administration

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.^[45]

• University Court

The Court is the supreme authority of the University and has the power to review the acts of the Executive Council and the Academic Council.

• Executive Council

The Executive Council is the highest executive body of the University.

• Academic Council

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.

• Finance Committee

The committee is responsible for recommending financial policies, goals, and budgets that support the mission, values and strategic goals of the university.

Student life

Students of the university are involved in various national and state level social activism. One of such student run endeavors is Campus Drift,^[46] which is a student-run newspaper and it functions as an information base for the updates regarding all the colleges. There are various MUN circuits associated with Delhi University and they hold the events throughout the year. Each college has its own annual cultural fest, some known fests are Crossroads of SRCC, Mecca of Hindu college, Renaissance of Kirori Mal College, Tryst of Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Confluence held in Hansraj College. Each college has their own societies promoting a variety of ECAs.

Sports

Delhi University Stadium is a Rugby 7s stadium, situated within the North Campus of Delhi University. 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. The construction work began in 2008 and it was inaugurated in July 2010, ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games,^[47] and also includes training area for Netball, Boxing, Women's Wrestling and Athletics.^[48][49]

After the games the stadium was handed over to the university by Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, there after in 2011, the university initiated an extensive upgrade plan, to create a multi-purpose arena with both outdoor and indoor facilities,^[50] after its completion the university students could access its facilities in late 2011.^[51]

Notable alumni and faculty

The University of Delhi has produced many distinguished personalities, including at least seven Heads of state or government and two Nobel Laureates.

Notable alumni of Delhi University include major politicians of India, including

• shubham chandela, film actor
• Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and former Chief Minister of Gujarat
• Sheila Dikshit, former Chief Minister of Delhi
• Madan Lal Khurana, former Chief Minister of Delhi and Governor of Rajasthan
• Sucheta Kripalani, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and India's first woman Chief Minister
• Naveen Patnaik, current Chief Minister of Orissa;
• Naveen Jindal, Indian National Congress politician;
• Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission;
• Rahul Gandhi, Indian National Congress Member of Parliament;
• Salman Khurshid, Minister of State for Corporate and Minority Affairs;
• Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development;
• Ambika Soni, former Minister of Information and Broadcasting;
• Arun Jaitley, the Minister of Finance; and
• Arun Shourie,^[52] former Union Minister for Disinvestment.
• Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the fifth President of India, graduated from St. Stephen's College, when the college was under the University of the Punjab

Foreign notable DU alumni include

• Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi
• Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (a graduate of St. Stephen's College),^[53] the sixth President of Pakistan;
• Girija Prasad Koirala, who served as the Prime Minister of Nepal on four occasions
• Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy activist, leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

In science and engineering, notable alumni of DU include physicists

• Archana Bhattacharyya,^[54] Pran Nath, Jogesh Pati (MSc in 1957)^[55] and Amitava Raychaudhuri;
• chemists Charusita Chakravarty
• Anil Kumar Tyagi (PhD in Medical Biochemistry);^[56] engineer Vinod Dham; and
• Eknath Prabhakar Ghate, Mathematician

In humanities and social sciences, notable alumni include

• Gita Gopinath, professor of economics at Harvard University;
• Kaushik Basu, economist and Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank;

Historians such as

• Arundhati Virmani,
• Ramnarayan Rawat,
• Upinder Singh, Usha Sanyal; and Veena Das, professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University.

The university also has produced a large number of major actors of Indian cinema and theatre including

• Amitabh Bachchan,
• Imran Zahid
• Shah Rukh Khan
• Huma Qureshi.^[57]

In the field of arts the University has notable alumni such as Sahitya Akademi Award winner Punjabi playwright Dr. Harcharan Singh, Kathak exponent Uma Sharma, Bharatnatyam exponent Geeta Chandran, Odissi exponent Baisali Mohanty.

In the field of commerce the University has notable alumni, in field of food and beverages such as Amit Lohani who at present occupies position of Convenor of Forum of Indian Food Importers.

The notable faculty members of DU include eminent historian Professor R.S.Sharma; Amartya Sen, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India; Sukhamoy Chakravarty, economist and a key architect of the Five-Year plans of India;^[58] Jagdish N. Bhagwati, economist at Columbia University;^[59] and Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan, wife of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan.^[60] Dinesh Singh, the EX-Vice-Chancellor of DU, is also a professor of mathematics at the university.

See also

• Delhi University Community Radio
• List of colleges affiliated with the University of Delhi
• Educational Institutions in Delhi
• Education in Delhi
• DUSU

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to University of Delhi.

• Official website