The
University is comprised of 14 faculties, 86 academic departments and 79
colleges spread all over the city of Delhi.
With a student strength of about 2,020,000 it is among the largest
Universities in the world.
This
is the premier
university of India and is known for its high standards in teaching and
research and attracts eminent scholars to its faculty. The University of
Delhi was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential
university by an Act of the then Central Legislative Assembly. Only
three colleges existed then in Delhi: St. Stephens College founded in
1881, Hindu College founded in 1899 and Ramjas College founded in 1917,
which were affiliated to the University. The University thus had a
modest beginning with just three colleges, two faculties (Arts and
Science) and about 750 students. In October 1933, the University offices
and the Library shifted to the Viceregal Lodge Estate, and till today
this site is the nucleus of the University (Main Campus). Apart from
central administrative offices, examination offices and the sports
complex, the main departments of the Faculty of Science are housed in
the Viceregal Lodge Estate.
Sir
Maurice Gwyer, who was the then Vice Chancellor, realizing the
importance of a distinguished faculty, searched for talent all over the
country and brought men of eminence to this University, such as Prof. D
S Kothari in Physics, Prof. T R Sheshadri in Chemistry, Prof. P
Maheshwari in Botany and Prof. M L Bhatia in Zoology. Over the last even
decades the University has grown into one of the largest universities in
India.
In
an effort to cope with this enormous expansion, the University in the
early seventies initiated a new organizational pattern based on the
multi-campus concept. The South Campus made a beginning in 1973 by
starting postgraduate programmes in some departments of the Faculty of
Arts and Social Sciences in a rented building. The campus acquired land
near Dhaula Kuan where the building of Arts Faculty was first
constructed. Offices and teaching activities shifted to this campus in
1983. A beginning has been made towards establishing the East and West
Campuses of the University. The East Campus is being developed with the
University College of Medical Science as its nucleus, while the West
Campus will have as its focus on Engineering and Technology. When the
University Grants Commission started establishing Centres of Advanced
Studies in the country, 6 were awarded to the University of Delhi out of
a total of 18 such centres in the early sixties. These were in Physics,
Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Economics and Sociology. These Centres of
Advanced Studies are now the centres of excellence in teaching and
research in their respective areas. In addition, a number of these and
other University departments received grants under the Special
Assistance Programme of the UGC in recognition of their outstanding
academic work. The University has 15 libraries. These are in
addition to Libraries in the Colleges. The University Science
Instrumentation Centre (USIC) has a number of sophisticated research
instruments which are used by several departments of the University and
by other institutions in Delhi and its the neighbourhood. The University
has just completed the implementation of fibre-optic networks on the
North and South Campuses.
