Drop in women joining Delhi University for undergrad courses after CUET
In 2021, a year before the centralised test was introduced, 54,818 women took admission in the various undergraduate courses that DU offers. This dipped to 34,120 in 2022.
Over the next two years, the numbers rose slightly to 36,039 in 2023 and 38,096 in 2024, but are well short of the pre-CUET figures.
Before the centralised test was introduced, DU admitted students on the basis of Class XII Board exam results, through cut-off lists. All students who met the cut-off had to be admitted irrespective of the number of seats on offer.
After CUET, the shift in the gender ratio has been stark (see box) – with women in the undergraduate cohort comprising 61.44% of the strength in 2021 to 54.09% in 2024.
The university also saw a drop in overall undergraduate admissions in the first year of CUET — from over 75,000 in 2018 to over 64,000 students in 2022 — before increasing slightly to over 68,000 in 2023 and over 70,000 in 2024.
Between 2019 and 2021, data from DU shows a consistent trend of high female participation in undergraduate admissions, often surpassing or closely matching male applicants. In 2019, 1.29 lakh women applied to the university against 1.28 lakh men.
In 2020, within the unreserved category alone, 1.16 lakh women candidates applied, outnumbering the 1.05 lakh male applicants. This pattern strengthened further in 2021 – the last admission cycle before CUET was introduced – when DU received 1.49 lakh applications from women versus 1.37 lakh from men, signaling a clear gender skew in favour of women at the application stage.
Even in 2022, the first year of CUET, registration numbers remained nearly equal – 87,622 female candidates and 87,523 male candidates.
Women applying for CUET-UG, however, have been rising — from 4.29 lakh out of total 9.68 lakh in 2022 to 6.47 lakh out of 13.54 lakh this year.
'Whenever a centralised external examination is introduced, students are forced to rely on coaching centres to cope with the overly competitive situation. This, however, disproportionately puts women at a disadvantage, as fewer families are willing to invest in coaching for daughters,' said Anita Rampal, former Dean of Education at Delhi University.
'Taking the entrance examination online could be a key reason behind the decline in enrollments among female students,' said Poonam Batra, former professor at the Central Institute of Education, DU.
'Multiple studies have consistently shown that girls, especially from marginalised and even modest backgrounds, have limited access to digital devices and typically gain access to online opportunities after entering higher education. In this case, many female students may not have had adequate access to online study materials. On the other hand, male students are more likely to access cyber cafés to practice for online tests, something girls in many parts of the country are simply not encouraged to do,' Batra added.
An official from the university, however, had a different explanation for the dip. 'Since the entrance test has become centralised, it is giving female students more options to choose from higher education institutions closer to their homes. This might be one of the reasons for the drop in female student numbers,' the official said.
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The number of women joining Delhi University (DU) for undergraduate courses has dipped since the introduction of the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) in 2022, data shows. In 2021, a year before the centralised test was introduced, 54,818 women took admission in the various undergraduate courses that DU offers. This dipped to 34,120 in 2022. Over the next two years, the numbers rose slightly to 36,039 in 2023 and 38,096 in 2024, but are well short of the pre-CUET figures. Before the centralised test was introduced, DU admitted students on the basis of Class XII Board exam results, through cut-off lists. All students who met the cut-off had to be admitted irrespective of the number of seats on offer. After CUET, the shift in the gender ratio has been stark (see box) – with women in the undergraduate cohort comprising 61.44% of the strength in 2021 to 54.09% in 2024. The university also saw a drop in overall undergraduate admissions in the first year of CUET — from over 75,000 in 2018 to over 64,000 students in 2022 — before increasing slightly to over 68,000 in 2023 and over 70,000 in 2024. Between 2019 and 2021, data from DU shows a consistent trend of high female participation in undergraduate admissions, often surpassing or closely matching male applicants. In 2019, 1.29 lakh women applied to the university against 1.28 lakh men. In 2020, within the unreserved category alone, 1.16 lakh women candidates applied, outnumbering the 1.05 lakh male applicants. This pattern strengthened further in 2021 – the last admission cycle before CUET was introduced – when DU received 1.49 lakh applications from women versus 1.37 lakh from men, signaling a clear gender skew in favour of women at the application stage. Even in 2022, the first year of CUET, registration numbers remained nearly equal – 87,622 female candidates and 87,523 male candidates. Women applying for CUET-UG, however, have been rising — from 4.29 lakh out of total 9.68 lakh in 2022 to 6.47 lakh out of 13.54 lakh this year. 'Whenever a centralised external examination is introduced, students are forced to rely on coaching centres to cope with the overly competitive situation. This, however, disproportionately puts women at a disadvantage, as fewer families are willing to invest in coaching for daughters,' said Anita Rampal, former Dean of Education at Delhi University. 'Taking the entrance examination online could be a key reason behind the decline in enrollments among female students,' said Poonam Batra, former professor at the Central Institute of Education, DU. 'Multiple studies have consistently shown that girls, especially from marginalised and even modest backgrounds, have limited access to digital devices and typically gain access to online opportunities after entering higher education. In this case, many female students may not have had adequate access to online study materials. On the other hand, male students are more likely to access cyber cafés to practice for online tests, something girls in many parts of the country are simply not encouraged to do,' Batra added. An official from the university, however, had a different explanation for the dip. 'Since the entrance test has become centralised, it is giving female students more options to choose from higher education institutions closer to their homes. This might be one of the reasons for the drop in female student numbers,' the official said.
