University of Delhi

New Delhi, India — www.du.ac.in

QS Ranking
#328
Founded
1922
Type
Public Central University
Students
300,000+
Acceptance Rate
~2% (CUET-based — most undergraduate programs have 95–100% cutoffs for top colleges)
Founded
1922
QS Rank
#328 (2025)
St. Stephen's
India's Oxford — Amartya Sen (Nobel 1998) alumnus; 100% cutoffs for some programs
Scale
300,000+ students, 77 colleges — one of the world's largest universities

Overview

The University of Delhi (DU), established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching, and residential university by an act of the Indian Legislature, is India's premier comprehensive university for humanities, social sciences, and undergraduate education — ranked #328 in QS 2025. DU is unique in scale: with 300,000+ students across 77 affiliated colleges and 86 academic departments, it is one of the world's largest universities by enrollment. DU's affiliated college system includes some of India's most prestigious undergraduate colleges: St. Stephen's College (founded 1881, Delhi's oldest college, a highly selective liberal arts college modelled on Oxford — alumni include Amartya Sen, Jaswant Singh, and numerous Indian Prime Ministers' children), Lady Shri Ram College (LSR — India's top women's liberal arts college), Hindu College, Miranda House, and Ramjas College. The 100% cutoffs at top DU colleges for popular programs (meaning applicants must have literally perfect 12th standard marks to be admitted) make DU admissions among the world's most statistically extreme, even if the absolute academic bar is different from IIT/JEE level. DU's North Campus — between the Ridge Forest and the Civil Lines colonial bungalow zone — is one of Delhi's most beautiful academic environments.

Admission Process

Indian students: CUET (Common University Entrance Test — national standardised test replacing board marks in 2022, India's largest entrance exam by applicants). International students: apply via international.du.ac.in (limited international spots). PhD: direct department applications. DU affiliated college admissions now standardised via CUET. Graduate programs: DUET (DU Entrance Test). Deadlines: May–July.

Programs at University of Delhi

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