Central varsities wait for clarity on CUCET

Central varsities wait for clarity on CUCET

Consultation was held in March

03/06/2021

Priscilla Jebaraj NEW DELHI

With major school boards cancelling their Class 12 examinations, students looking to apply for college are now waiting for clarity regarding a new avatar of an old admission method — the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET). In March, about 45 Central universities were told that the National Testing Agency would conduct the CUCET this year for all aspiring students, but the pandemic may have cast a pall of uncertainty over those plans.

“We were told that the NTA would take over the conduct of the exam, and it would be used for all admissions, with separate tests for UG and PG courses... About 45 universities consented,” said the admissions director of one of the newer universities in southern India, who did not want to be named. He claimed that the older universities such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Delhi University (DU), Jadavpur and Shantiniketan were not so keen on a common entrance test, as they have their own admission processes.

However, the controller of examinations from one of the older institutions said all Central universities were on board. “All the controllers were unanimous that apart from a common entrance test, we should have a common counselling process as well, as is done for [engineering admissions via] JEE,” he said.

DU Vice-Chancellor P.C. Joshi told The Hindu on Tuesday that if the Education Ministry approves the use of the CUCET, that could be implemented, adding that the DU would not compromise on merit.

Officials at the Education Ministry, NTA and UGC did not respond to queries regarding CUCET 2021