Why BA (Hons) Political Science has emerged as one of DU’s most popular courses

Last year, it was one of the courses for which Lady Shri Ram College for Women had set a 100% cut-off and the highest first cut-off of 2019 was for B.A. (Honours) Political Science at Hindu College.

In the last few years, B.A. (Honours) Political Science has emerged as one of the most popular draws for students seeking admission in undergraduate programmes at Delhi University. It is reflected in the high cut-offs for the programme across colleges and seats being filled to capacity early. In this year’s admissions, two colleges—Hindu College and Ramjas College—had a 100% first cut-off for the programme and 10 colleges had a first cut-off of 99% or above. Admissions for unreserved seats in the programme closed in 13 colleges. Last year, it was one of the courses for which Lady Shri Ram College for Women had set a 100% cut-off and the highest first cut-off of 2019 was for B.A. (Honours) Political Science at Hindu College.

Reasons behind Political Science’s popularity

The introduction of applied papers of contemporary relevance and restructuring in the pattern of UPSC examinations a few years ago may have contributed to this surge in popularity, teachers suggest.

“It is a comprehensive programme and for students aspiring for the civil services, this emerges as the best option. Earlier there were two optional papers in the examination which has now been reduced to one and there is more emphasis on the general studies paper, a good section of which gets covered in B.A. (Honours) Political Science papers such as those on constitutional democracy, India’s foreign policy, public administration,” said Hena Singh, a teacher in the Political Science department at Miranda House, which had its highest first cut-off this year for the programme at 99.75%.


The course is also a popular draw for students who want to study law after completing their undergraduate programmes for Delhi University.

The restructuring of the programme curriculum in the last decade is also something that teachers see as a draw.

“There has been the introduction of a lot of applied papers such as public policy, international relations, as well as optional papers such as Public Opinion and Survey Research which helps in political research, which is in demand. The public policy paper has a lot of uses both in government and the private sector, and private universities and IIMs now offer public policy as a Masters programme. Even an interdisciplinary area like feminism is an important part of the DU Political Science programme but with emphasis on what kinds of policies and budgets need to be made. With liberalisation, globalisation and market expansion, there are so many choices for students to explore with this background,” said Tanvir Aeijaz, teacher in the Political Science department at Ramjas College.

He also suggested that the Political Science programme is also considered to be easier for students than other popular B.A. (Honours) programmes such as Economics which involves mathematics both as a qualification and as an important part of the programme, and English.

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