Delhi’s prestigious St Stephen’s College finds itself in the news once again, but this time not for its stellar achievements or its rich legacy, but for denying admissions to students who even cleared the cut off criteria. St Stephen’s has a rigorous academic environment and with the cut off never dropping below a whopping 97%. This invites only the brightest of the bright to study at one of the best colleges in India. Even when the students do qualify and meet the academic standards of the college, why are their admissions still not confirmed?
Background of St Stephen’s College
St Stephen’s is a Christian minority college that comes under Delhi University. It was established by the Englishmen under colonial rule back in 1881. It offers eleven undergraduate courses and admits 410 students each year, half of the seats being reserved for Christian students. Ever since its inception, St Stephen’s has been regarded as one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country and has also consistently churned out remarkable alumni which have gone on to become prominent politicians, economists, policy makers, and academicians. Shashi Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, Rahul Gandhi and Barkha Dutt are just some of the celebrated graduates of this reputable institution. Given this glorious heritage of the college, it is no doubt that the admission criteria is highly selective. The cut off for some of the courses were sometimes set at 99% ensuring only the top scorers get admission.
St Stephen’s Fight over Admission Norms
St Stephen’s, which comes under Delhi University, has consistently bent Delhi University’s admission protocol by holding interview based admissions for Christian candidates. In all other colleges under DU, admissions strictly take place solely on the basis of one’s marks in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET). St Stephen’s declared in its prospectus that it would be giving 85% weightage to the CUET marks and 15% weightage to the personal interview. Stephen’s has historically always been at odds with DU’s admission process. This time is no different either.
Denial of Admission
St Stephen’s has the reputation of having an elitist and boastful crowd. The added round of interviews in the admission process may explain why. Delhi University has introduced a single girl-child quota this year to provide academic cushioning to families with a single daughter in the family. 12 of the students who applied under this quota were not confirmed admission by the college admin. This happened despite the university already informing the college to reserve 19 seats for single girl child students. 10 other students who had not applied through any category but still cleared the cut off were also not confirmed admission despite the deadline for confirmation of admission passing.
