Authorities of the Darjeeling Hills University (DHU), set up by the state government at Mungpoo in the Darjeeling hills, began the process of spot admission to postgraduate courses last week.

The initiative will continue till November 27.

Sujata Rani Rai, the acting registrar who is managing the university's affairs as the institution does not have a vice-chancellor, said they had initially introduced the online admission process.

“During the first round of online admissions, 32 students expressed interest but eventually only 24 enrolled. A similar trend was witnessed in the second round when 53 students indicated their willingness to join, but only 15 completed the admission process. That is why, we have launched the spot admission system to draw more students needed for the survival and growth of the varsity,” said Rai.

Located around 45km from here, the DHU was established in 2021 with around 100 students pursuing PG courses in English, Nepali, history, political science, mass communication and mathematics. It runs out of the local ITI building.

However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the growth of the varsity suffered. The students complained that only online classes were conducted as there was no infrastructure to support offline learning.

“The university also lacked teachers and officials at that time, which further hindered academic activities,” said sources.

Eventually, the authorities conducted offline classes for the final-year students at North Bengal University to comply with the University Grants Commission guidelines.

Although land has been identified for its permanent campus, construction has not yet begun.

“The decision to start spot admission to get more students hints at the crucial situation that the varsity has been confronting these days. The state should immediately start developing the university's permanent infrastructure, recruit faculty members and other staff and take other pertinent steps,” said a senior academic based in the hills.