Govt to introduce common entrance exam for all engineering colleges in 2018

The government on Friday passed a proposal to have a common entrance examination for admissions to all the engineering colleges across the country. The common exam would be on the lines of the National Entrance cum Exit test (NEET) for medicine. 

The HRD ministry on Friday cleared a proposal submitted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to have a single exam. Right now, states have their own common entrance exams (CETs) which are governed by their own regulations. 

Admissions to the Indian Institute of Technology would, however, continue to happen through the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE). “The exam is introduced to ensure that there is a single entrance with same rules all over the country. This would help prepare students from the beginning” said an AICTE official while speaking to DNA. 

The exam will be introduced from 2018 as most states have already started the registration process for the 2017 exams.

“It is a welcome move. This would help reduce the confusion and would streamline the admission process. The only concern is that there are hundreds of seats that are lying vacant across the state and the country. If the criteria is made tougher, a lot of students might not be able to score well” said Gopakumaran Thampi, Principal of Thadomal Shahani College of Engineering in Mumbai.

While the ministry has still not specified the difficulty level, sources say that it would be on the lines of JEE.