DU Admissions 2014: Top 5 colleges

University of Delhi (DU) was founded in 1922. At that time, only three colleges were present in Delhi, which were – St. Stephen’s College (founded in 1881), Hindu College (founded in 1899) and Ramjas College (founded in 1917). DU on the onset had only two faculties which were Arts and Science and had only 750 students enrolled in it.

DU is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country and has also earned a place for itself in the “top 100 QS University rankings for Asia in 2014”.

Today, DU has around 1,50,000 regular students studying various undergraduate courses and more than 3,50,000 students in non-formal streams. In 2014, the University will be offering admissions to students to fill 54,000 seats at 16 faculties, 86 academic departments spread over North Campus and South Campus at 77 affiliated colleges.

DU is completely funded by the Government of India. The President of India is the Visitor of DU. While, the Vice-President is the Chancellor and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India is the Pro-Chancellor of the University.

So, in continuation to our series on the best colleges at University of Mumbai, Pune University and Bangalore University, Shiksha.com brings for you the top five colleges at Delhi University and provides their brief history, fee structure, courses offered by them along with a list of the college’s famous alumni.

St. Stephen’s College

One of the three original constituent colleges of DU, St. Stephen’s College was founded in 1881 and thus, is the oldest college of Delhi. The College began with just five students and three teachers in a small house in Katra Khushal Rai, near Kinari Bazar in Chandni Chowk. However, in 1941 it shifted to its present site in the University Enclave.

St. Stephen’s is known to groom and produce the best-of-the-best students in various spheres whether it is the sports faculty or the academic departments. The admission procedure at St. Stephen’s College is different as compared to the central short-listing criteria of DU and so the College conducts its admissions separately.

College Fee

The college fee for semester-I ranges from Rs 13,000 to 14,000 whereas students availing the hostel facility have to pay an additional Rs 24,000 as residence fee and 12,000 as mess deposit.

Courses Offered

St. Stephen’s College offers undergraduate courses in disciplines such as Economics, English, History, Philosophy, Sanskrit, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics.

Famous Alumni

• Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former President of India
• Mani Shankar Aiyar, MP, former Cabinet Minister
• Salman Khurshid, MP, Minister of External Affairs (India), former Law Minister
• Kapil Sibal, MP, Law Minister of India
• Shashi Tharoor, MP, former Minister of State, former Under-Secretary-General of the UN
• Kabir Bedi, Actor
• Konkana Sen Sharma, Actor
• Khushwant Singh, Author
• Amitav Ghosh, Author
• Ramachandra Guha, Author
• Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Rhodes Scholar, Economist and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. Former Finance Secretary
• Barkha Dutt, Indian television journalist, columnist, group editor with NDTV
• Sagarika Ghose, Anchor
• Unmukt Chand, Cricketer

Hansraj College

Founded in 1948, by the DAV College Managing Committee in the memory of the famous educator Mahatama Hans Raj, the college today has more than 5,000 studying in its various courses. Hansraj College is also one of DAV group’s over 700 institutions and one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Delhi.

College Fee

The annual fee for Hanraj College ranges between Rs 10,000 to Rs 16,000.

Courses Offered

Hansraj College offers undergraduate courses in disciplines such as Economics, English, Hindi, History, Sanskrit, B.Com, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Electronics, Geology, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology.

Famous Alumni

• Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Actor
• Shah Rukh Khan, Actor
• Anurag Kashyap, Filmmaker
• Ajay Maken, MP, Sports Minister
• Dr. Palash Sen, Actor, Musician
• Gopal Subramaniam, Solicitor General of India
• Kushal Tandon, Actor
• Shiney Ahuja, Actor
• Vinod Dua, Journalist
• Tarsem Singh, Hollywood Director
• Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics, Cambridge University
• Subhash Saini, NASA scientist

Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)

Established in 1926 by educationist and industrialist, Sir Lala Shriram, SRCC started awarding undergraduate degrees in 1932 and took another 16 years to offer graduate degrees. The college took its present name and form in 1951 and became truly co-educational in 1957.

SRCC was first established in Daryaganj and in 1957 shifted to its present location at DU’s North Campus. SRCC at present spreads over 17 acres and has impressive educational as well as recreational areas on campus.

College Fee

SRCC’s annual fee ranges between Rs 20,000 to Rs, 28,000.

Courses Offered

At the undergraduate level, SRCC offers only B.Com honours and BA Economics honours programmes.

Famous Alumni

• Arun Jaitley, Politician
• Lieutenant General Rajan Bakhshi, Senior Indian Army officer
• Rana Kapoor, Banker, CEO, YES Bank
• Sanjeev Sanyal, Economist, Environmentalist
• Pramod Bhasin, CEO, Genpact
• Gulshan Grover, Actor
• Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV
• Atul Punj, Chairman, Punj Lloyd
• Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Filmmaker
• Ruchir Sharma, Head of Global Emerging Markets Equity Team, Morgan Stanley

Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Sir Shri Ram in memory of his wife, Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College had its modest beginnings in a school building in Daryaganj, with 243 students, nine faculty members, four support staff and three distinct courses to study.

Today, LSR is located in South Delhi and is spread over an area of 15 acres. It has approximately 2000 students, over 150 faculty, administrative as well as support staff and 16 courses which students can pursue.

College Fee

LSR’s annual fee for first and second semester of various courses offered by it ranges from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000.

Courses Offered

LSR offers undergraduate courses in disciplines such as Economics, English, Hindi, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Sanskrit, Sociology, Psychology, Journalism and Mass Communication, Mathematics, Statistics, Commerce and Elementary Education.

Famous Alumni

• Sujatha Singh, Indian Foreign Secretary
• Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Politician
• Uma Sharma, Kathak dancer
• Naina Lal Kidwai, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC India
• Vinita Bali, Managing Director, Britannia Industries
• Sushma Berlia, First female to head an Apex chamber of commerce
• Shikha Sharma, CEO Axis Bank India
• Sakshi Tanwar, Popular Television actress
• Jaishree Misra, Popular fiction author
• Chitra Subramaniam,India's First Woman Investigative Journalist
• Nabila Jamshed, Author
• Aditi Rao Hydari, Bollywood Actress
• Shriya Saran, Tollywood Actress
• Nidhi Razdan, NDTV Anchor

Hindu College

Located in North Campus, Hindu College was founded by Shri Krishan Dassji Gurwale in 1899. Hindu College was initially affiliated to Panjab University. The college was a centre for intellectual debate during India's Freedom Struggle, especially during the Quit India Movement. The college moved to its present campus in 1953.

At present, Hindu College is spread over 25 acres of land and has around 120 faculty members and has more than 2,000 students pursuing its various courses.

College Fee

Till date, Hindu college is considered to be the most affordable college at DU with its fee ranging from Rs 5000 to Rs 7000.

Courses Offered

Hindu College offers undergraduate courses in disciplines such as Physical Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, Botany, Zoology, Commerce, Humanities and Social Sciences, English, Economics, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Hindi, Sanskrit, Sociology and Music.

Famous Alumni

• Vinod Rai, 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India
• Venkatesh Kini, President, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia
• Shatrujit Singh, Prince of Kapurthala
• Mira Aggarwal, Politician (Mayor of Delhi, India)
• Manoj Kumar, Actor
• Meenakshi Lekhi, National spokesperson of Bhartiya Janta Party
• Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Times Now
• Colonel Sonam Wangchuk, Maha Vir Chakra, Kargil War hero
• P. N. Dhar, Principal secretary to Indira Gandhi Prime Minister's office
• Kadambari Murali, editor-in-chief of Sports Illustrated India
• Loveleen Tandan, Director
• Abhishek Chaubey, Director
• Imtiaz Ali, Director
• Vishal Bhardwaj, Director
• Tisca Chopra, Actress
• Arjun Rampal, Actor
• Roshan Abbas, TV and radio host
• Gautam Gambhir, Cricketer
• Murli Kartik, Cricketer
• Ajay Jadeja, Cricketer