You could call it the reverse exodus. According to Delhi University officials, the office of the dean of Students' Welfare has been flooded with calls from abroad. Interestingly, all queries are about courses being offered at DU.

Says Dinesh Varshney, deputy dean, Students' Welfare (south campus), "Ever since the admission announcements were made, we've been getting four-five calls per day from abroad. Mostly, the calls are made by students themselves or at times, the parent." The queries, adds Varshney, range from what's the eligibility criteria for admission at DU to whether the university accepts certificates from Boards other than CBSE and ICSE.

The calls, most of which are from London, followed by Ottawa, Dubai, Sharjah, Lahore as well as Istanbul, are mostly from NRIs or expats who have been living abroad for the past few years. The details asked for are quite minute, say south campus sources. Course syllabi, the difference between a BSc and BA in Maths or even whether the English course is at par with those taught abroad are discussed. Adds the deputy dean, "In the past couple of weeks, we've got at least 150 calls."

Asked why the sudden interest in DU, Varshney feels it is the quality of education imparted in the university. "Our syllabus is as good, if not better than international universities. Also, some of the parents mentioned that they would like their children to come to India to understand the people," says Varshney. He cites a call he'd got from a gentleman in Istanbul, who has been working abroad for the past several years. "The parent wanted to send his son to India so that he would get an idea of what the country and its culture is all about," adds the deputy dean.

Varshney admits the interest is quite surprising, and a first for the university. "It's the first time that the admission session has had so many calls from outside India. Usually, the queries are from other parts of the country," he adds.

Meanwhile, the South campus centralised admission centre saw several visits from students seeking information on courses in music and fine arts. Neither of the courses incidentally gathers much attention other than from students who already have a background in the subjects. Says Varshney, "In fact, a large number of queries were about these two courses, followed by questions on what the syllabus entailed in other programmes."

The south campus has put up two touch screens for students for easy dissemination of information. The screens one at the deputy dean of Students' Welfare office and the other near the FMS centre have all the information that the DU information bulletin has. They also have information on PG courses offered by the university.