DU Admission Crisis: Mop-Up Round Sparks Outrage Over CUET Failures

CUET and CSAS System Under Fire as DU's Mop-Up Round Sparks Massive Faculty-Student Outrage

NEW DELHI, India – September 11, 2025 –

Delhi University has been plunged into an admission crisis, with its unprecedented "mop-up" round triggering widespread outrage from faculty and students who are now labeling the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) as "complete failures." The controversy has intensified as over 21,000 students compete for just 7,000 vacant seats, nearly six weeks after the academic session has already begun.

At the heart of the scandal is the university's abrupt shift in admission criteria. While initial rounds were based on CUET scores, the mop-up round has controversially reverted to Class 12 marks, a move faculty members have decried as inconsistent and unjust. "How can the same university adopt two rules in the same year without taking approval of the Academic or Executive Council?" questioned Prof Deo Kumar of Rajdhani College, highlighting the growing faculty dissent.

The administrative burden has further fueled the anger. The university has delegated the task of creating merit lists from thousands of applications to individual colleges, giving them a tight three-day deadline. A senior faculty member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, blasted the move, stating, "Are teachers supposed to become clerks? The university has simply washed its hands of the responsibility."

This mid-semester admission process has also been slammed as a case of "academic injustice." With classes having started on August 1, students admitted now will have missed nearly half the semester. "How are these students supposed to cope with six weeks of missed classes in a 14-week term?" asked faculty member Rudrashish Chakarborty. The timing has also raised suspicions of political manipulation, with some faculty suggesting the move is aimed at increasing voter turnout for the DUSU elections on September 18 rather than solving the admission crisis.

The chaos has prompted academic bodies to call for a complete rollback of the current system. The Academic and Administrative Teachers' Association (AADTA) has slammed the CUET-CSAS framework for leaving thousands of seats vacant year after year, resulting in a cumulative financial loss of nearly ₹21 crore over the last three years. Dr. Aditya Narayan Misra, a former DUTA President, warned that unless the issue is addressed, the university's "reputation will face irreparable damage."

The crisis represents a critical challenge to DU's admission framework, questioning the efficacy of the nationalized testing system and the university's implementation. As thousands of students await their fate, the administration faces mounting pressure to restore credibility to a process now widely seen as broken.