New academic session begins at Delhi University, V-C says institution completely free of ragging

new delhi: the delhi university's 2023-24 session for undergraduate courses began on wednesday, bringing the academic calendar back on track after a three-year covid-induced disruption.students' organisations set up helpdesks around the campus for the new students. the congress-backed national students' union of india (nsui) also set up booths to assist the freshers on accommodation facilities.the covid pandemic had disrupted the academic calendar, resulting in no breaks or ones that lasted only a few days across colleges. it also impacted the uniformity of semesters as classes started at different times.arshia choudhury, who has joined the ba (honours) course in english at gargi college, expressed her excitement at getting admission in a south campus college."my first day at the university of delhi was both exciting and slightly overwhelming. the orientation sessions and campus tours -- going through the large corridors and classrooms of gargi college -- made me miss my old friends," she told pti."the whirlwind of emotions reminded me how lucky i am to have secured admission here and how the hard work of the past years has bore fruit," she added. sanjana kumari, who has opted for political science (honours) at daulat ram college, said, "it was my dream to get into the north campus and i have very high expectations from the college after reading good reviews." "this year's common university entrance test (cuet) was tough in comparison to last year but i am glad that i could make it to my dream college," she added.  having joined the bsc (honours) course in mathematics at ramjas college, sneha rawat said she is looking forward to the extracurricular activities and the exposure those provide."we expect college life to be very outgoing and fancy but it is certainly (going to be) different from school. i am looking forward to the extracurricular activities and exposure through college, other than just academics," rawat told pti bhasha.the university has started several new courses, including a three-year btech and a five-year llb programmes, from this year.it has also given students the option to choose either a three-year or a four-year programme. the students will follow the revised syllabus based on the undergraduate curriculum framework 2022.welcoming the new students, delhi university vice-chancellor yogesh singh said the institution is completely ragging free. he extended his best wishes to the new undergraduate students and called upon them to go to the campuses of their respective colleges without any worry, the university said. the vice-chancellor informed that 64,288 students confirmed their admission at the conclusion of the second round of the common seat allocation system till august 15.seats were offered to 1,05,426 (1.05 lakh) students in the first and second rounds, he said.haneet gandhi, the university's dean of admissions, said dyal singh college, hansraj college, gargi college, ramjas college and kirori mal college were the five with the maximum enrolment in the first round. swami shraddhanand college, deshbandhu college and zakir hussain college had the maximum enrolment in the second round, she added."according to the data received till august 15, the top five programmes are bcom and ba streams in which maximum admissions have been taken. bcom (honours), bcom, and ba (honours) programmes in political science, economics and english are the top five courses with the most admissions," gandhi said. singh said the admission percentage of women students in all university-affiliated colleges has been more than half, calling it a "pleasant aspect". the percentage of women who took admission in delhi university colleges is 53 per cent while that of men is 47 per cent, he said.the university will also organise its first students' union elections after 2020. the elections are likely to be held in september or october, officials said.students' organisations have already begun their election campaigns, holding rallies at various places of the north campus.