NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Islamia has discontinued five academic programmes for the 2026-27 session after they received applications for less than half their sanctioned intake. It has also decided to waive entrance and offer direct admission in five other low-enrolment programmes, including recently introduced Sanskrit courses, to ke-ep them running.The discontinued programmes together account for 145 seats and are all self-financed courses – programmes run without govt funding and sustained through students’ fees. They include Master of Hotel Management (30 seats), PG Diploma in Translation Proficiency in English (35), PG Diploma in Disaster Management (40), Diploma in Leather Goods & Footwear Technology (30) and MFA in Art Management (10). The application fees will be returned in the bank accounts of the applicants, the university said in a notice issued on April 26.The five programmes that will continue despite receiving applications below 50% of their capacity are BA (Hons) Sanskrit (30 seats), MA Sanskrit (30), MA Persian (30), Diploma in Portuguese (part-time) (15) and MSc Biophysics II Semester (20), together accounting for 125 seats.Explaining the decision, Jamia chief PRO Saima Saeed said, “Courses like Diploma in Leather Goods & Footwear Technology were introduced anticipating student interest. Possibly because employment opportunities are limited, students did not apply in sufficient numbers. Similarly, people may no longer see a diploma in translation as job-oriented as the translation technology has made the process easier. Running these courses with only a handful of students would have meant an inefficient use of faculty strength.“On the decision to retain Sanskrit despite low demand, Saeed said, “We have decided to continue both MA and BA Sanskrit because of our emphasis on Sanskrit as an ancient language. The administration felt enrolment may improve over the next two to three years, and, therefore, we decided to retain these programmes and offer direct admission.”The admissions to the programmes through direct admission are being granted based on Class XII marks, she added.The university did not divulge if these courses were poorly subscribed last year as well. On whether these programmes would continue next year, Jamia said it would depend on the number of applications received.Jamia established its Sanskrit department in 2017, initially launching a certificate programme before introducing full-time undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes later that year.
