Admissions to undergraduate courses in all 45 central universities in India will be based on the CUET score. This will effectively do away with staggering cutoffs.
UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said the central universities will have to use Common University Entrance Test scores to admit students to undergraduate programmes this year and not the Class 12 scores.
In all likelihood, it will be conducted in the first week of July. In a public notice released later in the day, the UGC said the application process for undergraduate CUET will commence from the first week of April.
From the 2022–23 academic year, the National Testing Agency will be conducting it for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. “All the central universities will have to consider it for admissions to their programmes” Kumar said at a press briefing.
There are 45 central universities funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Kumar stated that the CUET syllabus will be mirrored with the NCERT’s Class 12 model syllabus.The CUET will have Section 1A, Section 1B, a general test, and domain-specific subjects.
Section 1A, which will be compulsory, will be in 13 languages, and candidates can choose the language of their choice. The options are English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
Section 1B is optional and for students who want to opt for another language apart from the ones that are a part of Section 1A. Some of the languages on offer are French, Arabic, German, etc., he added.
Under the domain-specific subjects, a candidate can choose up to a maximum of six domains that they wish to pursue at the undergraduate level, Kumar said. Some of the domains are anthropology, accounting, book-keeping, etc.
There are some universities that have general tests as eligibility criteria for admission to even domain-specific courses, so that is a part of the CUET, he said. According to the UGC chairman, the CUET will have no effect on university reservation policies.
The universities can enrol candidates for the general seats as well as for the reserved seats on the basis of CUET scores. It will not impact the existing admission and reservation policies that are in accordance with the ordinances of the varsity, “he said.
Explaining further, he said if a university has a certain percentage of seats reserved for local students, it will be able to retain that. But these students will also have to get admission through CUET, “he added.
For example, central universities like Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) reserve half of their seats for minority students. Both universities are yet to take a call on CUET. According to an AMU official, they will take a call on the CUET once they receive any communication from the UGC.
Similarly, an official from Jamia Millia Islamia said they have not yet decided on CUET and will wait for an official communication from the UGC. The university has also constituted a committee of some officials to study how CUET can be conducted for admission to the varsity.
Kumar also said foreign students will continue to be admitted in accordance with the existing practise the universities have on a supernumerary basis. Universities will be allowed to conduct practicals and interviews for courses like music, fine arts, and theatre, along with CUET. “The institutes can accord a certain weightage to practicals for such courses,” he said.
He also said there would not be any centralised counselling after CUET this year. The universities will have their own counselling. The CUET will be held in two shifts. In the first shift, candidates will be able to write one language, two domain-specific papers, and take the general test.
In the second shift, candidates can write the remaining four domain-specific subjects and section 1B, Kumar said. According to him, the common entrance exam will provide equal opportunities to students from all boards, particularly those from the northeast and rural areas.
The CUET is also expected to reduce the financial burden on parents and students, as candidates will only have to write one exam. State universities, private universities, and deemed universities can also use CUET scores for undergraduate and postgraduate admissions if they want, Kumar said.
Delhi University and some other universities have already announced that they will only admit students to undergraduate courses on the basis of CUET. Regarding postgraduate programmes, Kumar said there are many universities that have adopted the CUET while there are some that conduct their own exams.
As of now, universities will have the flexibility to opt for CUET. “We hope that all the universities adopt the CUET for postgraduate programmes,” he said. NTA will soon release the detailed guidelines regarding CUET.
Published by – Kiruthiga K
Edited by – Kritika Kashyap
