NEW DELHI: Conceived to provide job-oriented skill education to youth from low-income and underserved communities, Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU), set up in 2020 by merging 10 govt polytechnics to widen access, is witnessing a sharp decline in seats and enrolment, according to data submitted to a Delhi govt-appointed committee examining complaints about its functioning.
The public state university has seen a significant number of seat closures, including the elimination of all 802 girls-only diploma seats. Diploma intake has fallen by 44%, from 5,286 in 2020 to 2,970 in 2025, while the number of diploma courses has reduced from 28 to 17. Between 2022 and 2024, the university shut 3,332 of 8,107 undergraduate seats (41%), with 78% of seats listed in 2023 alone marked closed.
39% Seats Currently Vacant, 26 of 37 Progs At Less Than 50% Capacity
Enrolment remains weak across DSEU campuses, with 39% seats vacant in the ongoing academic session. As many as 26 of 37 programmes are running at less than half capacity and 12 at below 25%. At the Wazirpur-I campus, a 40-seat diploma course has just one student enrolled. Several undergraduate and postgraduate programmes launched in 2023 and 2024 have since been discontinued due to low enrolment.
The decline has coincided with a steep fee escalation. Diploma fees rose from about Rs 30,000 to Rs 49,650 by 202122, increased marginally to Rs 51,700 over the next two years, and then jumped to over Rs 1.9 lakh in 2024-25, before slightly reducing to about Rs 1.8 lakh this year — nearly four times the earlier level. Infrastructure at the varsity has also deteriorated, with campuses reporting non-functional labs and smart boards, and basic facilities such as toilets and drinking water categorised as moderate to poor.
There was no immediate response from DSEU registrar Shailendra Singh Parihar.
A meeting between DSEU officials and the Delhi govt-appointed panel was recently held to review complaints of alleged malfunctioning. In Dec last year,
TOI had reported a four-member panel was constituted to examine the university’s overall functioning, including the impact of the merger of govt polytechnics and World Class Skill Centres, following repeated complaints of alleged governance lapses.
Data submitted before the panel shows year-wise closures accelerated sharply. In 2022, 264 seats were closed after the BCom business process management programme was shut. In 2023, 14 courses were discontinued, leading to 2,288 seats being closed. In 2024, nine more programmes were shut, reducing another 780 seats. In total, 41% of the capacity between 2022 and 2024 was closed, with 2023 alone accounting for 78% of seats marked shut that year.
The elimination of 802 girls-only diploma seats marks a significant shift. Courses that earlier had dedicated seats for women, including cosmetology and health (71 seats), civil engineering (PHE) (63), garment fabrication technology (87), library and information science (71), modern office practice (English and Hindi), applied arts (73), interior design (73), medical lab technology (166), fashion design (59) and diploma in production engineering (82) — have all been reduced to zero.
Postgraduate programmes have also been affected. Five PG courses were shut in 2024, including MBA in retail management, MBA in healthcare facility management, MBA in management information systems, PG diploma in cyber law and PG diploma in precision engineering.
Among the worst-performing programmes, the UG diploma in hotel management at Wazirpur-I campus has just one student against 40 seats (2.5% fill). The UG certificate in AI in office operations at Shakarpur campus has filled only three of 40 seats (7.5%). BSc physical sciences at Rohini has five of 60 seats filled (8.3%) while BBA office management at Jaffarpur has four of 40 seats (10%). Integrated BTech-MTech programmes at Shakarpur and Dwarka are running at 11.7% and 20% capacity, respectively. At the campus level, Wazirpur-I is at 2.5% fill, Jaffarpur at 10%, Dr HJ Bhabha (Mayur Vihar) at 22% and Kasturba Pitampura (girls’ campus) at 24%.