New Delhi: Aspiring Delhi University (DU) students have one more reason to be glad this year. DU, which is working to make admission process more effective and student friendly, has decided to implement some changes in the eligibility criteria too. The University is planning to lower the eligibility criteria for appearing in Common Aptitude Test in English (CATE) this year. The test is being conducted in order to select eligible candidates for admission into BA (Honours) in various colleges.
As per sources, the schedule for the test is still to be finalized. However, officials at the English department said that from this year, the eligibility criterion for CATE is likely to accept 45% as aggregate instead of 60%. Until last year, only students who had secured at least 60% in English were eligible to register for CATE. Therefore, the University may do away with this condition as well.
Confirming the changes, Tapan Basu, Associate Professor, English Department, said that the department is likely to lower the aggregate needed for CATE to 45%, which is the general norm for all BA (Honours) courses in DU. He further explained that students' aptitude for studying the course can be judged through the test. Thus, the University department is planning to remove the criterion requiring minimum marks in English. This will make the process more inclusive, Basu concluded.
Sources informed that the Department of English conducted a meeting with representatives of different colleges to decide the modalities of CATE this year, recently. According to sources, 20 colleges have confirmed their participation, while the department anticipates more to join in, over the next few days. The colleges include Bharati College, Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Janaki Devi Mahavidayalaya and Kamla Nehru College. CATE is most likely to be held in early June only after Class XII results are declared.
