Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been grappling with a disconcerting trend in recent years – a steady decrease in the proportion of female students. This development runs counter to the national trajectory and has raised concerns within the academic community.
Furthermore, the percentage of research students at JNU has also experienced a significant decline. It has dropped from 62.2 percent in 2016-17 to 46 percent in 2021-22. This decline implies a shift away from the university’s fundamental focus on advanced research.
These troubling trends began to manifest shortly after JNU adopted the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) latest admission regulations for research students in 2017. These changes led to the discontinuation of JNU’s deprivation points policy, which used to award additional points to students hailing from disadvantaged districts and women during the admission process.
While this policy change impacted female enrollment, it also placed restrictions on the number of research students a single faculty member could supervise, thereby reducing the available research positions.
It’s worth noting that the deprivation points policy is still in place for undergraduate and postgraduate admissions. This suggests that the decline in female enrollment in research programs may have been even more pronounced than the overall drop from 51.1 percent to 44.4 percent between 2016-17 and 2021-22.
In contrast, according to the government’s All India Survey on Higher Education, the overall enrollment in higher education in India rose from 3.42 crore in 2014-15 to 4.14 crore in 2020-21, with the percentage of female enrollment increasing from 45 to 49.
The JNU Teachers Association has expressed their concerns, citing these figures from the university’s annual report during a recent news conference. They argue that the university’s woes are a result of repeated policy changes and a perceived “policy of victimization,” which they claim began with M. Jagadesh Kumar’s tenure as vice-chancellor in 2016 and continues under the current VC, Santishree D. Pandit.
Until 2018, JNU conducted its own PhD entrance exams in a pen-and-paper format, featuring a mix of objective, subjective, and multiple-choice questions. However, since 2019, the university outsourced these entrance exams to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts computer-based tests exclusively with multiple-choice questions.
Many teachers argue that this shift disadvantages students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and underprivileged regions due to their limited exposure to computers and inability to afford coaching, which is often seen as crucial for success in multiple-choice question exams.
Ayesha Kidwai, a member of the teachers’ association, highlighted how the discontinuation of JNU’s own entrance exams and the adoption of technology-driven exams by the NTA, along with the elimination of the deprivation points system for research program admissions, have significantly affected the composition of the student body.
Moushumi Basu, a former secretary of the teachers’ association, pointed out that JNU used to conduct its research course entrance exams and complete them before July. However, since the NTA takeover, the academic calendar has been disrupted. Basu also noted that the number of entrance test centers has been reduced, potentially discouraging many female candidates who may need to travel long distances to reach these centers.
As JNU grapples with these enrollment challenges, it faces increasing scrutiny over its admission policies and their impact on diversity and inclusivity within the university.
