Dearth of seats for psychology course leaves boys vexed

New Delhi: A majority of the male students who were seeking admission in the BA Psychology (Honours) course at Delhi University were left disappointed, as most of the seats for this are available only in women's colleges.

The number of seats available in the University for this coveted course dwarfs in front of the number of applications received, with more than 80,000 applicants vying for a mere 462 seats.

Moreover, there are only 10 colleges in the varsity that offer an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Of the 10, colleges, seven are for women.

Women's colleges in DU that offer the course include Indraprastha College for Women, Mata Sundri College for Women, Aryabhatta College, Daulat Ram College, Jesus and Mary College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Lady Shri Ram College.

According to an official of the university, this is the courses are where mostly female candidate apply. "We can approximately measure the student ratio of female students to male students at 60:40," the official said.

According to the official data provided by the varsity, in the academic year 2017-18, around 71,000 applicants – both male and female – enrolled for the BA (Hons) Psychology course, with the number of seats remaining the same at 462.

"Because of limited seats in psychology for boys, we have to settle with subjects that we do not wish to study. It basically changes our entire career plan," said Harinder Bajwa, an aspirant, who opted to go to private university after realising that there are not enough seats in DU for psychology.

"Despite scoring well, I could not get a seat to study psychology as there are fewer seats for boys," said Rohit, another aspirant.

Questions have often been raised as to why there are not enough co-ed colleges offering the psychology course.

A few DU colleges had even filed applications with the University Grant Commission (UGC) to start the course in the upcoming session. However, an approval from the Commission is still pending. "Many colleges are seeking BA (Hons) Psychology programme and there is a great demand for it. But the proposal are stuck with the UGC. We have not been able to get through the bureaucratic struggles so far to get the course," said an official.