The UGC is planning to merge medical or engineering entrances into the Common University Entrance Test – Undergraduate (CUET- UG). As per the reports, this proposal would be to check the students on the same knowledge based on one test.
University Grants Commission vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said the idea is to unburden the students to appear in multiple exams. So, the new proposal will allow the students to appear for one entrance test only instead of appearing in four subjects – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and biology – in three entrance exams, but now students can appear in one exam and be eligible for or explore a different field of study.
This year CUET was launched for undergraduate students at 90 universities including 45 central universities. According to officials 1.05 million students have applied for CUET, making it the second biggest examination after NEET which received 1.8 million students’ applications.
Vice Chancellor Kumar said that National Education Policy NEP 2020 also foresees one entrance exam for all and this will reduce the burden on students by giving multiple exams for higher education.
While the NEET examination is conducted for taking admission in medical courses including MBBS and BDS, the joint entrance examination (Main) is designed for admission to various engineering courses including IITs and other technical colleges. Shortlisted students can appear for the JEE Advanced exam for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Also, the UGC will form a committee, including experts from different fields, to look at the recent entrances. Kumar said the committee will start preparing recommendations for the Integrated entrance exam. These recommendations will be shared with the stakeholders for consultation and feedback based on the ministry and UGC will decide the pattern of the examination.
He also said that the examination may be conducted twice a year to provide more opportunities to students. He decided to conduct the first session immediately after the board exams and other sessions can be conducted in November or December. Due to some technical glitches during the CUET exam for undergraduate students, Kumar said the NTA is working on handling the challenges.
The NTA can come up with its entrance examination centers in educational institutions across the country that can provide more than 300 to 400 students at a time. These institutions are used for the rest of the year.
According to him, there is no such difference between the assessment process of JEE, CUET, and NEET. The question paper of all the examinations are based on the NCERT syllabus and are objective based. The same criteria are followed for the special experts for preparing the question papers. But the NEET is the only one that is still OMR- based and not computer-based.
Although the entrance examination is based on both a logistical point of view and the interest of the students.
The UGC chancellor has clarified that the date is not finalized yet when the NTA National Testing Agency and all concerned stakeholders are well-prepared before the new common entrance test is launched for students.