SHAPING A NEW ACADEMIC ORDER

RISING RESEARCH OUTPUT, STRONG PLACEMENTS AND GROWING ENROLMENTS HELP DELHI UNIVERSITY UNSEAT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY AS INDIA'S LEADING PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION DESTINATION

- Shelly Anand

FROM ITS MODEST BEGINNINGS in May 1922 through an Act of the central legislature, the University of Delhi today has evolved into a world-class institution of higher learning in India.

In its inaugural year, the university comprised two faculties, Arts and Science, and offered a limited number of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through its three founding colleges: St. Stephen's (1881), Hindu College (1899) and Ramjas College (1917). It began with eight departments: Sanskrit, History, Economics, English, Arabic, Persian, Physics and Chemistry, and the university library was established with a donation of 1,380 books, symbolising the early spirit of learning and scholarship. Cut to 2025, and the university offers 90 undergraduate, 135 postgraduate and 71 PhD programmes, along with 37 certificate and 114 diploma courses. Spanning 407 acres, it encompasses 91 colleges, 16 faculties, 86 academic departments and 23 centres, schools and institutes, boasting an enrolment of over 620,000 students. This makes it one of India's largest and most diverse public universities.

More than 11,000 students are currently enrolled in PG programmes, underscoring the institution's enduring commitment to advanced academic training, research excellence and interdisciplinary scholarship. Of a total of 109 academic departments, centres, institutes and schools, 87 are dedicated to PG and higher studies.

In alignment with the government's National Education Policy 2020, the university adopted UGCF (Undergraduate Curriculum Framework) 2022 and PGCF (Postgraduate Curriculum Framework) 2025, infusing flexibility, interdisciplinarity, Indian knowledge systems and research orientation into its curriculum.