The University of Delhi (DU) has announced mop-up admission to undergraduate (UG) courses across 15 affiliated colleges after several seats remained vacant following admissions based on Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores.Several Delhi University teachers said vacant seats have been a persistent issue in recent academic years since the introduction of CUET. (HT Archive)In a statement issued on Friday, the university said it will conduct admissions to programmes like Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BSc) at various colleges, including Deshbandhu College, Kalindi College and Zakir Husain Delhi College, based on students’ Class 12 marks.However, DU has not shared the number of seats vacant at various colleges or the total number of vacant seats.The move comes more than three weeks after classes for the 2026–27 academic session began on July 28, following two rounds of seat allocation and spot rounds to fill UG seats across the university’s 67 affiliated colleges. Admissions were conducted through the CUET-based process administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA), the university’s admission route since the 2022–23 academic session.Also Read I Delhi University suspends PhD scholar for slapping professor, CCTV surfacesColleges permitted to open merit-based admissionsInitially, in the first week of August, two off-campus women’s colleges – Aditi Mahavidyalaya and Bhagini Nivedita College – were permitted to admit students on a merit basis after a substantial number of seats remained vacant.Subsequently, through two notices issued on August 20 and 21, more colleges were allowed to adopt the same merit-based admission route.“Admissions in a few more colleges have been started based on merit of Class 12 marks, subject to eligibility criteria,” the university stated.Also Read I Delhi launches 56 women-only e-buses, including on DU routesThe other colleges are Dyal Singh Evening College, Institute of Home Economics, Lakshmibai College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Mata Sundri College for Women, PGDAV College, Rajdhani College, Satyawati College, Satyawati College (Evening), Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women and Sri Aurobindo College.The courses offered include BSc (Hons) Mathematics, BSc (Hons) Electronics, and BA (Hons) in languages like Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, and Sanskrit.Issue of vacant seats due to CUETSeveral teachers said vacant seats have been a persistent issue in recent academic years since the introduction of CUET. They pointed out that the merit-based route, nearly a month after classes begin, complicates the admission process.“The recurrence of such exceptions clearly indicates that the CUET-based admission system has failed to ensure optimum utilisation of seats,” said Dr Pankaj Garg, a professor of Mathematics at Rajdhani College and chairperson of Indian National Teachers’ Congress (INTEC).Also Read I 19-year-old DU student jumps to death from Delhi mallNeelam, a professor in the Hindi Department at Laxmibai College and a member of the university’s Academic Council, raised similar concerns. She suggested that instead of resorting to last-minute measures to fill vacant seats, the university should constitute a panel to examine and address the issues arising from the CUET-based admission process.“Every year, seats in popular colleges are filled within the first two rounds, while in a few courses, less than 50% of the seats remain vacant even after multiple rounds of admissions. This clearly indicates a systemic issue that requires more than just last-minute, hurried solutions,” she added.