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 Logo of Delhi University | |
Other name | DU |
|---|---|
| Motto | Niṣṭhā dhṛtiḥ satyam (Sanskrit) |
Motto in English | Dedication, Steadfastness and Truth |
| Type | Central University, Institute Of National Importance,[1] Institute of Eminence[2] |
| Established | 1 May 1922; 103 years ago (1 May 1922) |
| Founder | Maurice Gwyer |
| Accreditation | NAAC (A++) |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | ₹955 crore (US$110 million)[4] (2023-2024) |
| Chancellor | Vice President of India |
| Vice-Chancellor | Yogesh Singh[5][6] |
| Visitor | President of India |
Academic staff | 1,402[7] |
| Undergraduates | 114,494[7] |
| Postgraduates | 21,628[7] |
| 3,502[7] | |
| Location | ,, India 28°41′N77°13′E / 28.69°N 77.21°E /28.69; 77.21 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Language | English Hindi |
| Colours | Purple |
| Mascot | Elephant (Strength and wisdom) |
| Website | www |
  Location in Delhi | |
TheUniversity of Delhi, commonly referred to asDelhi University (DU,ISO:Dillī Viśvavidyālaya) is acollegiateresearchcentral university located inDelhi,India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of theCentral Legislative Assembly. TheVice President of India serves as the university chancellor. The university is ranked 5th byNational Institutional Ranking Framework 2025 In University.
The University of Delhi was established in 1922, was created by an act of the Central Legislative assembly.[8]Hari Singh Gour served as the university's first Vice-Chancellor from 1922 to 1926.
Only four colleges existed in Delhi at the time, which were affiliated withUniversity of the Punjab at that time :
All of the above colleges were subsequently affiliated with the university. The university initially had two faculties (Arts and Science) and approximately 750 students.
The seat of power inBritish India had been transferred fromCalcutta to Delhi in 1911. The Viceregal Lodge Estate became the residence of theViceroy of India until October 1933, when it was given to the University of Delhi. Since then, it has housed the office of the vice-chancellor and other offices.[9]
WhenSir Maurice Gwyer came to India in 1937 to serve as Chief Justice of British India, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi. During his time, postgraduate teaching courses were introduced and laboratories were established at the university.[10] Members of the faculty includedDaulat Singh Kothari in Physics andPanchanan Maheshwari in Botany. Gwyer has been called the "maker of the university". He served as Vice-Chancellor until 1950.[11]
The silver jubilee year of the university in 1947 coincided with India's independence, and the national flag was hoisted in the main building for the first time byVijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao. In that year there was no convocation ceremony due to thepartition of India. Instead, a special ceremony was held in 1948, attended by thenPrime Minister of IndiaJawaharlal Nehru, as well as byLord Mountbatten,Lady Mountbatten,Abul Kalam Azad,Zakir Husain andShanti Swaroop Bhatnagar. Twenty-five years later the golden jubilee celebrations of 1973 were attended by the then Prime Minister of IndiaIndira Gandhi,Satyajit Ray,Amrita Pritam, andM. S. Subbulakshmi.[12]
The university has grown into one of the largest universities in India. There are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 91 colleges spread across the city, with 132,435 regular students (114,494 undergraduates and 17,941 postgraduates). There are 261,169 students in non-formal education programmes (258,831 undergraduates and 2,338 postgraduates). DU's chemistry, geology, zoology, sociology, and history departments have been awarded the status of Centres of Advanced Studies. In addition, a number of the university's departments receive grants under the Special Assistance Programme of theUniversity Grants Commission in recognition of their outstanding academic work.[13]
From the year 2022, DU changed its admission pattern from the 12th percentage mark based to CUET[14] (Common University Entrance Test). Now it will admit students based on their CUET scores. And the 12th class percentage marks will act as a tie-breaker for students securing the same CUET scores.[15]Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) is the representative body of the students from member colleges, and was established in 1949.[16]
DU is one of the most sought-after institutions of higher education in India. It also has one of the highest publication counts among Indian universities.[17]
The annualhonorary degree ceremony of the university has been conferred upon several people, including film actorAmitabh Bachchan, formerChief Minister of DelhiSheila Dikshit, cartoonistR. K. Laxman, chemistC. N. R. Rao[18] and formerPrime Minister of the United KingdomGordon Brown.[19]
There are 91 colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi, spread acrossDelhi. North Campus and South Campus serve as the two main campuses of the university.[20]Zakir Husain Delhi College, which is situated in the central part of New Delhi, is the oldest college in Delhi.
The North Campus hosts the three founding colleges of the university. The South Campus was opened in 1973 as part of the university's expansion plan. It moved to its present location on Benito Juarez Marg, nearDhaula Kuan, in 1984, and covers 69 acres.
Some colleges of Delhi University offer hostel facilities to students, but this facility is limited to a specific number of colleges. The allotment of hostels is also done on a merit basis. Only 20 colleges of Delhi University provide hostel facilities to students.[21]
ThePresident of India is the Visitor, theVice President of India is the Chancellor and theChief Justice of India is the Pro-Chancellor of the university. The Court, the Executive Council, the Academic Council and the Finance Committee are the administrative authorities of the university.[22]
The University Court is the supreme authority of the university and has the power to review the acts of the Executive Council and the Academic Council. The Executive Council is the highest executive body of the university. The Academic Council is the highest academic body of the university and is responsible for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education, and examination within the university. It has the right to advise the Executive Council on all academic matters. The Finance Committee is responsible for recommending financial policies, goals, and budgets.
Though the colleges are all constituent to the University of Delhi, as it is acollegiate university, depending upon the funding Delhi Colleges broadly fall into three categories:
The colleges maintained by universities get 100% deficit maintenance grants while the colleges run by trusts get 95% deficit grants.[23]
The university has 65 colleges that offer liberal courses in humanities, social sciences, and science. Twenty-five of these colleges are affiliated with the South Campus while the others are to the North Campus. The total number of colleges under the university is 77 if the colleges that run professional courses are included. Some colleges also offer evening courses.[24] The university includes an undergraduate management college 'Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, which is ranked as the best B-school in the country at this level, by India Today.[25]
The University of Delhi's 86 academic departments are divided into 16 faculties.
In the past, the Faculty of Technology offered courses in Engineering and Technology. The faculty earlier included the Delhi College of Engineering, before it was transformed into theDelhi Technological University and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology before it was transformed into theNetaji Subhas University of Technology.[28][29] It was again established in 2023.[30]
The University of Delhi has two affiliated faculties:
There are about 28 centres and institutes at DU. These are divided into four categories:
There are 240 courses available at the university for undergraduate (UG) and post-graduate (PG).[45]
There are a total 201 courses offered by Delhi University likeMBBS,B.Tech.,LL.B etc. Courses are mainly classified under the three faculties of the central university, including arts, commerce and science.[46]
The university offers 70 post-graduate degrees. DU also offersMPhil in about 28 subjects.[47] In addition to these, it offers 90+ Certificate courses and 28 Diplomas. There are 15 Advanced Diplomas offered in various languages. The university offersPhD courses, which may be awarded by any faculty of the university under ordinance VI-B.[48]
On the other side, speciality and super speciality medical degrees likeDM, DCh etc., could only be awarded by the faculty of medical sciences.[49] Due to lack of surety in quality of legal education, The Bar Council of India has issued a notification asking Delhi University (DU) to shut down law courses offered in evening shift at its colleges.[50]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| General – international | |
| ARWU (2022)[51] | 601-700 |
| QS (World) (2025)[52] | 328 |
| General – India | |
| NIRF (Overall) (2024)[53] | 15 |
| NIRF (Research) (2024)[54] | 14 |
| QS (India) (2020)[55] | 7 |
| Outlook India (Universities) (2020)[56] | 8 |
Internationally, the University of Delhi was ranked 328 in theQS World University Rankings of 2025[52] and 81 in Asia. It was ranked 801–1000 in the world by theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings of 2025,[57] 201–250 in Asia in 2025.[58] It was ranked 601–700 in theAcademic Ranking of World Universities of 2025.[51]
In India, it was ranked 15 overall by theNational Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024 and 6 among universities.[59] In 2025, it was ranked 5th by the NIRF.[60]
TheDelhi University Stadium is arugby sevensstadium, situated within the North Campus. Spread over 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft), the stadium has aseating capacity of 2,500 permanent and 7,500 temporary seats. Construction began in 2008 and the stadium was inaugurated in July 2010, ahead of the2010 Commonwealth Games.[61] It also includes a training area for netball, boxing, women's wrestling and athletics.[62][63]
After the games the stadium was handed over to the university by Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, there after in 2011, the university initiated an upgrade plan, to create a multi-purpose arena with both outdoor and indoor facilities.[64] The university opened access to these facilities in late 2011.[65]
 | This article's list of alumnimay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Pleaseimprove this article by removing names that do not have independentreliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this articleand are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriatecitations.(April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Notable alumni in Indian politics include: Lawyer and formerMinister of FinanceArun Jaitley;[66]Foreign Secretary of IndiaVijay Keshav Gokhale;[67][68] Minister of External AffairsS. Jaishankar; former diplomat, writer and Member of ParliamentShashi Tharoor;[69][70][71] the fifthPresident of IndiaFakhruddin Ali Ahmed; sixthChief Minister of DelhiSheila Dikshit; fourthChief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and India's first woman Chief MinisterSucheta Kriplani; economist and former leader of theJanata PartySubramanian Swamy; fourteenthChief Minister of OdishaNaveen Patnaik; industrialist and former Member of ParliamentNaveen Jindal; diplomat andForeign SecretaryJyotindra Nath Dixit; former Deputy Chairman of thePlanning CommissionMontek Singh Ahluwalia; former Minister of State for Corporate and Minority AffairsSalman Khurshid; formerFormer Union HRD MinisterKapil Sibal; former Minister of Information and BroadcastingAmbika Soni; former Union Minister forDisinvestmentArun Shourie;[72] formerChief Minister of Delhi andGovernor of RajasthanMadan Lal Khurana; former MLA ofLakhipurRajdeep Goala; president ofJawaharlal Nehru University Students' UnionAishe Ghosh andDeputy Chief Minister of Odisha,Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo.
DU has educated numerous foreign politicians and heads of state and government including State Counsellor of MyanmarAung San Suu Kyi, thirdPresident of MalawiBingu wa Mutharika, formerPrime Minister of NepalGirija Prasad Koirala, sixth President of PakistanMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq,[73] sixteenthPrime Minister of Sri LankaHarini Amarasuriya and two formerPrime Ministers of Bhutan,Sangay Ngedup, andKhandu Wangchuk.
DU has also produced a large number of major actors and actresses ofIndian cinema and theatre includingAmitabh Bachchan,Shah Rukh Khan,Manoj Bajpayee,Konkona Sen Sharma,Anurag Kashyap,Arjun Rampal,Imran Zahid,Neha Dhupia,Sakshi Tanwar,Mallika Sherawat,Imtiaz Ali,Huma Qureshi,[74]Siddharth,Sushant Singh Rajput,Shriya Saran,Vishal Bhardwaj,Sandhya Mridul,Aditi Rao Hydari,Shekhar Kapur,Deepa Mehta,Nimrat Kaur,Kabir Khan,Aditi Arya,Sidharth Malhotra,Karan Oberoi (model) andTriptii Dimri. The CWE wrestlerShanky Singh had also pursued B.Com. fromMaharaja Agrasen College of Delhi University. SingerPapon was also enrolled inMotilal Nehru College
Notable DU alumni in poetry and literature include theSahitya Akademi Award winning dramatist and playwrightHarcharan Singh, the Urdu poetAkhtar ul Iman, and the writersVikram Seth,Anita Desai (Shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times),Amitav Ghosh,Kunzang Choden,Upamanyu Chatterjee,Ali Sardar Jafri, and thePadma Vibhushan recipientKhushwant Singh.
Notable alumni in the sciences include physicistArchana Bhattacharyya,[75] theoretical physicistPran Nath,SLAC physicistJogesh Pati[76] particle physicistAmitava Raychaudhuri, astrophysicistVinod Krishan,[77] chemistsCharusita Chakravarty andAnil Kumar Tyagi,[78] engineer and "father of thepentium processor"Vinod Dham, mathematicianEknath Prabhakar Ghate, astrophysicistSangeeta Malhotra, engineerYogi Goswami, neurosurgeonB. K. Misra (1st vice-president of World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies),[79] and biomaterials researcherSanjukta Deb.
Notable alumni in the humanities and social sciences include First Deputy Managing Director of economics atIMFGita Gopinath; economist and Senior Vice-president and Chief Economist of theWorld BankKaushik Basu; historiansArundhati Virmani,Ramnarayan Rawat,Upinder Singh andUsha Sanyal; professor of anthropology atJohns Hopkins UniversityVeena Das;Kathak dancerUma Sharma;Bharatnatyam dancerGeeta Chandran; gender rights activistMeera Khanna and IPS officer and politicianKiran Bedi[80][81]
Notable alumni in the field of business includeTesla CFOVaibhav Taneja, President of theWorld Bank-Ajay Banga and managing director and editor-in-chief ofRepublic Media NetworkArnab Goswami.
Notable faculty members of DU include eminent historians likeRS Sharma andRamachandra Guha; recipient of theNobel Memorial Prize in Economic SciencesAmartya Sen; formerPrime Minister of IndiaManmohan Singh; economist and a key architect of theFive-Year Plans of IndiaSukhamoy Chakravarty;[82] senior fellow forinternational economics at theCouncil on Foreign Relations and professor of economics atColumbia UniversityJagdish Bhagwati;[83] andRa'ana Liaquat Ali Khan, a leading woman figure in the Pakistan Movement and wife of the firstPrime Minister of PakistanLiaquat Ali Khan.[84]
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