Delhi University

#257
Global Influence
Central university located in New Delhi

About Delhi University

By James Barham, PhD

The University of Delhi (DU) was founded in 1922 by the government of British India. The new university soon absorbed four other colleges already existing in Delhi: Delhi College (originally founded in 1792 as Zakir Husain Delhi College); St. Stephen’s College (founded in 1881); Hindu College (founded in 1899); and Ramjas College (founded in 1917). One reason why the British decided to establish DU was the transfer of the seat of colonial administration from Kolkata (Calcutta) to Delhi in 1911.

In 1931, the district of New Delhi was carved out of the ancient city of Delhi to serve officially as the new capital of British India. As an emblem of the close connection between DU and the seat of the British colonial administration, it is interesting to note that the building housing the present vice-chancellor’s office was the Viceroy of India’s residence until 1933, when it was transferred to the university.

In 1947, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time, and the new flag of the independent Republic of India was raised in its stead.

Today, DU comprises 16 faculties organized into 86 academic departments, with an additional five research institutes.

The university welcomes both formal (regularly matriculated, or full-time) and “informal” (part-time) students. The number of formal students is more than 132,000, while an additional 261,000 students fall into the informal category, making DU one of the largest universities in the world.

Students belong to specific colleges in accordance with the English “Oxbridge” system. There are 77 such colleges in all, counting both residential and off-campus facilities.

Among prominent DU-associated individuals, we may name the following:

  • Computer engineer and entrepreneur, Vinod Dham
  • Novelists, Anita Desai, Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee & Namita Gokhale
  • Film directors, Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapur, Maneesh Sharma, Prakash Jha & Anurag Kashyap
  • Actors, Roshan Seth, Shah Rukh Khan, Nandita Das, Gulshan Grover, Laksh Lalwani & Shriya Saran Bhatnagar
  • Musicologist, Sushil Kumar Saxena
  • Dancers, Leela Samson, Madhumita Raut, Geeta Chandran & Baisali Mohanty
  • Architect, Raj Rewal
  • Physicists, Venkataraman Balakrishnan, Deepak Kumar, Jogesh Pati, Shasanka Mohan Roy & Amitava Raychaudhuri
  • Physical chemist, Nanduri Atchuta Ramaiah
  • Chemists, Charusita Chakravarty, Krishna N. Ganesh & Amolak Chand Jain
  • Biochemists, T.A. (Tathamangalam Ananthanarayanan) Venkitasubramanian & Debi Prasad Sarkar
  • Molecular biologist, Gaiti Hasan
  • Geneticists, Subhash Chandra Lakhotia, Sushil Kumar & Amit Dutt
  • Immunologist, Satish Kumar Gupta
  • Parasitologist, Alok Bhattacharya
  • Professor of Forensic Medicine, Anil Aggrawal
  • Historians, Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Ramnarayan Rawat, Upinder Singh, Tapan Raychaudhuri & Percival Spear
  • Anthropologist, Veena Das
  • Economists, Amartya Sen (Nobel laureate), Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Arindam Banik, Maitreesh Ghatak, Partha Dasgupta & Kaushik Basu
  • Economist and politician, Subramanian Swamy
  • Political columnists, Prem Shankar Jha & Swaminathan Aiyar
  • Publisher, Aroon Purie
  • TV journalists, Sudhir Chaudhary, Rahul Kanwal & Ravish Kumar
  • International diplomat and Indian politician, Shashi Tharoor
  • Former Pakistani President, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
  • Current Myanmar State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi
  • Former Indian Chief Justices, Madan Mohan Punchhi, Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal & Ranjan Gogoi
  • Economist and former Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh
  • Current Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi

According to Wikipedia, Delhi University , formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence by the University Grants Commission . As a collegiate university, its main functions are divided between the academic departments of the university and constituent colleges. Consisting of three colleges, two faculties, and 750 students at its founding, the University of Delhi has since become India's largest institution of higher learning and among the largest in the world. The university has 16 faculties and 86 departments distributed across its North and South campuses, and remaining colleges across the region. It has 91 constituent colleges. The Vice President of India serves as the university chancellor.

Delhi University's Online Degrees

What Is Delhi University Known For?

Delhi University is known for it's academic work in the following disciplines:

Delhi University's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered

Who Are Delhi University's Most Influential Alumni?

Delhi University's most influential alumni faculty include professors and professionals in the fields of Economics, Social Work, and Communications. Here are some of Delhi University's most famous alumni:

Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi
A 15th Prime Minister of India.
Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra Guha
A Historian and writer from India.
Kaushik Basu
Kaushik Basu
An Indian economist and academic.
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
An Indian novelist, essayist, and activist.
Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh
An Indian novelist and journalist .
Naveen Patnaik
A 14th Chief Minister of Odisha.
Partha Dasgupta
Partha Dasgupta
A British economist.
Sogyal Rinpoche
Sogyal Rinpoche
A Tibetan Dzogchen lama of the Nyingma tradition.
Har Dayal
Har Dayal
An Indian revolutionary.
B. K. Misra
B. K. Misra
An Indian Neurosurgeon.
Vinod Dham
Vinod Dham
An Indian engineer.
Navin Chawla
A Retired Indian civil servant and 16th Chief Election Commissioner of India.

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