Kirorimal College Archives - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

A prestigious institution in the country, the University of Delhi (DU) is a hub for students looking to make a career, and houses the best colleges in the field of science, commerce and arts courses in the country.

The University of Delhi not only offers the mainstream courses, but also offers certificate and diploma courses in languages such as Romanian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. As the world is turning into a global village and different foreign firms are entering the Indian markets, there are a large number of job opportunities that are being created to tackle the demand by these firms.

There are many factors that one should consider while choosing a foreign language to learn in DU, some of these factors being: difficulty level, personal preference, interest, target country or region, sectors or industries, possible immigration, and future goals, etc. French, Spanish, German, Chinese, and Japanese remain the most sought-after languages for most of the students interested in pursuing foreign language courses in DU. However, in recent years, demand for Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Korean and Arabic has also been on the rise.

Ayush, a Literature student from Kirorimal College who pursued Mandarin language from St. Stephen’s College found the experience to be ‘mixed’ and said, “The faculty was brilliant and I was able to learn the language as well as the culture, since our teachers made sure we celebrated Chinese festivals and devoured Chinese cuisine. Although, it was a task to handle the academics as the exams for the language courses start around ten days before the semester exam. Over all, it was worth it!”

Another student of Philosophy from Miranda House, Rupali Gujral, who pursued Spanish language from Hansraj College stated, “The fees was very feasible and although it did become a little hectic to juggle academics and language course, it was pretty amazing. I would advise students to go for it preferably in the first year itself as it is less tedious then.”

Application forms for the courses can be obtained from the respective colleges. St. Stephen’s College has made their registration process completely online. Colleges release merit lists based on the composite scores of best four subjects studied at Higher Secondary level. Once enlisted in the said merit list, students are required to report to the respective college and complete their admission. Self-attested documents including class 12 marksheets and class 10 marksheet-cum-certificate are required to be submitted along with the fees.

Considering the myriad options that DU has to offer and its wide-ranging opportunities, DU Beat brings you all the information you need about Language courses at DU.

(i) Delhi University – North Campus Colleges

St. Stephen’s College, University Enclave – Certificate, Diploma & Advanced Diploma in French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese. Certificate and Diploma in Arabic, and Certificate in Persian.
Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Pitampura – Certificate in French, German, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Satyawati College, Ashok Vihar – Certificate & Diploma in French and German.
Daulat Ram College*, Maurice Nagar – Certificate, Diploma & Advanced Diploma in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Hansraj College, Malka Ganj – Certificate, Diploma & Advanced Diploma in French and German.
Ramjas College, Maurice Nagar, Delhi University – Certificate course in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese & Chinese, Diploma in French, Japanese & Chinese and Advanced Diploma in French.
Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Pitampura, Near Sainik Vihar – Certificate course in French and German.
Mata Sundri College*, Mata Sundri Lane – Certificate course in French, Spanish and German.
Miranda House*, Patel Chest Marg – Certificate course in French, Spanish and German.
SGTB Khalsa College, Mall Road – Certificate course in Spanish, Russian, German, Korean, Chinese and Japanese.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Karampura – Certificate course in Russian.
Hindu College, University of Delhi – Certificate course in French, German, Spanish and Russian.
Zakir Husain College, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg – Certificate course in Russian.
LakshmiBai College*, Ashok Vihar – Certificate course in Chinese and Japanese.
Kalindi College*, East Patel Nagar – Certificate course in Chinese language.

(ii) Delhi University – South Campus Colleges

Jesus & Mary College*, Chanakyapuri – Certificate course in French.
College of Vocational Studies, Sheikh Sarai Ph-II – Certificate course and Diploma in French and German.
Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Netaji Nagar – Certificate course in French, German and Spanish, and Diploma in Spanish and German.
Acharya Narendra Dev College, Govindpuri, Kalkaji – Certificate in Russian; Certificate & Diploma in French, Spanish and German & Advanced Diploma in Spanish.
Kamla Nehru College*, August- Kranti Marg – Certificate, Diploma & Advanced Diploma in French
Bharati College*, Janakpuri – Certificate in Russian, French, Chinese and German, and Diploma and Advanced Diploma in French and German.
Sri Venkateswara College, Dhaula Kuan – Certificate course in German and Chinese.
Gargi College*, Siri Fort Road – Certificate course in German.
Lady Shri Ram College*, Lajpat Nagar 4 – Certificate course in Russian.

*Women’s colleges of DU.

Certificate level requires candidates to have passed 10+2. For Diploma and Advanced Diploma level, certification and Diploma is required respectively in the corresponding language. Admission will be given on merit or entrance test.

All the colleges offer convenient time slots for the classes on all the days. The fee structure too is pocket friendly varying from INR 12,000- INR 19,000 depending on the course and time slot one chooses.

It’s time to finally replace your ‘Proficiency in English’ to ‘Proficiency in Spanish/French/any other language’ that you want!

Happy learning!

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Bhagyashree Chatterjee [email protected]

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With basic difference in subject names like Accounts versus Accountancy and Political Science versus Civics, the students from other boards like ISC and State Board are at a disadvantage.

While getting admission in B.Com. (Honours) at Kirori Mal College (KMC), Siddharth, a student from Indian School Certificate (ISC) Board faced a gigantic issue. He received a call after submitting his documents that his Best of Four (BFS) will be cut by 2.5% because his mark sheet says ‘Accounts’ and not ‘Accountancy’ as prescribed by the University of Delhi (DU).

The student told Times of India (TOI) that on June 28th, he had gone to get admission in KMC. He shared “They took my form and documents, but I got a call on Sunday saying that a 2.5% will be deducted from my aggregate marks as DU does not accept Accounts, in which i have scored a 100”. He also claimed that many from ISC Board have taken admission in DU with accounts as a subject.

According to the report, this student from Kolkata had secured 97.5% in his class 12th ISC Board Examination. Sukanto Dutta, OSD Admissions at DU said “We will look into this on July 1st. We will match the course syllabus of ISC accounts to see if it matches with CBSE accountancy.”

Ravleen Malhotra, a student from St. Xavier’s, Chandigarh, also an ISC student who took admission in B.Com. (Honours) at Lady Shri Ram College last year shared that she did not face any such difficulty while taking admission.

To delve deeper into the issue we spoke to Ms Nidhi, who was the teacher-in-charge for Commerce Section. She told us that this did not happen in the B.Com. (Honors) course at Kirori Mal College and might have happened in some other course.

Nevertheless, she said that according to the University guidelines, if the name of a paper is different in a Board from that as prescribed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the students are to bring an ‘Equivalence certificate’ from their Board to show it at the time of admissions which stands as the proof that irrespective of their names, the papers were similar in nature and syllabus. In this case no marks are deducted and no student suffers any disadvantage. The percentage is only cut when the student does not have proof, and authorities cannot assume that these two subjects will have the same syllabi.

Although, Ravleen had also revealed that she did not present any ‘equivalence certificate’ at the time of her admission, and got admitted easily, without any hassle.

The Chief Executive and Secretary of Council of ISC Examination, Gerry Arathoon told TOI that “DU has always accepted Accounts for admission; I don’t know why this issue has cropped up now.”

Similarly, the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education clarified that its students who study ‘Civics’ can take admission in the group containing ‘Political Science’ and that its second language is treated as elective. However, DU is still considering both languages as core subjects and not allowing aspirants to include it in the best-of-four calculation.

Interestingly, the matter of giving equal weightage to “civics” offered by Telangana board and “political science” offered by other boards had been resolved in 2017. But it has cropped up again in 2019. Around 10 students from Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential schools, which sponsor students from underprivileged backgrounds, had to change their choice of subjects as the university said that civics was not equivalent to political science, as reported by TOI.

The other problem is over the second language. As per the University’s rule, in the calculation of the BFS subjects, only one language can be included. Inclusion of two languages is allowed when one is an “elective” and the other “core”. Several boards have clarified to DU that the second language is being offered as an elective subject. Pawan, a student who passed from Telangana board told TOI, “There are already letters from the board but still the University is not listening to us. We are facing this problem with Sanskrit, which we studied as an elective subject.” There was a guideline sent to the colleges on Monday, which states that “language subjects which contain a significant amount of literature in its contents may qualify as elective”. Many colleges said the guideline was vague.

With inputs from Times of India

Feature Image Credits: Indian Express

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

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