Delhi University off-campus colleges stealing thunder from on-campus ones

Over the years, the rise of off-campus colleges of Delhi University have been taking the sheen away from the North and South Campus Colleges in various spheres of courses, sprawling campuses, developed infrastructure, and cultural societies. With each passing year, they successfully attract more and more aspirants for admissions.

This year, in spite of having high-cut offs, the off campus colleges had closed admissions to most of the popular courses even before the campus colleges in the first list itself.

According to officials, the students have undergone a change in their thinking as many go for their preferred courses rather than considering a college. “The syllabus and examination patterns are same in all the colleges, whether it is located on the campus or off the campus,” a senior official said.

One of the distinctive feature of every off campus college is the specialised courses that they offer. Lady Irwin College and Institute of Home Economics are the only two colleges in DU that offer Home Science at an undergraduate level, while Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences offers specialised course on instruments which is not offered by any other college.

College of Vocational Studies is one such college which offers several vocational courses in addition to the disciplinary programmes like tourism, small and medium enterprise, human resource management unlike any other top college.

“I feel that opting for these courses not only helps to enhance the practical skills but also develop theoretical knowledge of every student no matter it is an on-campus or off-campus college. Every college has its own unique feature,” said Swati Gupta, a tourism student.

Principals, however, feel that over the years the off-campus colleges have reached to the academic level similar to that of any other on-campus college.

Keeping in mind the needs of the students, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College (DDUC), which had its 27-year-old campus in Moti Nagar, shifted to a new campus recently in Dwarka.

The new campus has a multi-storey building with 26 lecture rooms and 12 lecture theatres followed by an auditorium with a seating capacity of 400.

DDUC is the only off-campus college which has been made environmentally equipped with an eco-system mechanism as well as rainwater harvesting system. The college is also working on a solar power generation system to produce power for college use.

“Off-campus colleges have produced better results academically than campus colleges in the past. Initially, place and college used to be a matter of concern but now since off-campus colleges have come up to the level of campus colleges, we get to see large number of students securing a seat here,” said S.K. Garg, DDUC principal.

Another college, Dyal Singh College (Morning), became the first college in entire DU to be powered by solar energy by installing several solar panels in the campus.

In terms of cultural societies, Misba — Western Dance Society and I Vogue — the fashion society of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce (SGGSC) gave a tough competition to all top colleges this year by winning all the major competitions in the DU fest season.