CUET to neither make board exams irrelevant nor encourage coaching culture, says UGC chairperson

The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) will neither make the board exams irrelevant nor give a push to "coaching culture", University Grants Commission Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said on Tuesday. He asserted that students from state boards will not be at a disadvantage in the undergraduate admissions process. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which is responsible for conducting the exams, will consider conducting the CUET twice a year from the next session, he said.

In an interview with PTI, Kumar said CUET will not just be limited to admissions in Central Universities as several prominent private universities have indicated that they would like to come on board for using the scores from the common entrance exam for undergraduate admissions. "To begin with, CUET will be conducted once this year but NTA will consider conducting the exam at least twice a year from the next session. The entrance exam will not just be limited to Central Universities but also private ones. Several prominent private universities have indicated that they would like to come on board and admit students through CUET," he said.

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"Eight deemed-to-be universities including the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Jamia Hamdard have also expressed a desire to use CUET scores to admit students to undergraduate courses. I held a meeting yesterday with vice-chancellors and directors of these eight deemed universities which receive maintenance grants from UGC," Kumar said.

He, however, did not name the private universities that have expressed interest in adopting CUET. Kumar had last week announced that CUET scores, and not Class 12 marks, will be mandatory for admission to 45 central universities that can fix their minimum eligibility criteria.

On whether the exam will lead to a "coaching culture" for undergraduate admissions, Kumar said, "The exam will simply not require any coaching so there is no question of it giving a push to coaching culture." The exam will be completely based on the class 12 syllabus. A Lot of students are getting concerned about whether the exam will also have questions from the class 11 syllabus. The answer is a clear no, the UGC chairman said. "There will be no disadvantage to state board students. The exam will also provide a level playing field for students from all boards.

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"Students from rural backgrounds appearing for the exam in regional languages, coming from different economic backgrounds and are geographically distributed across the country, all will be treated on a par," Kumar said. The UGC chief rejected apprehensions that the CUET will make board exams irrelevant. "The universities will still use board exams as qualifying criteria. Some universities can peg the requirement at 60 per cent, some may choose to set 70 per cent as a requirement, so there is no question of board exams being made irrelevant.

"However, the focus on getting 100 per cent marks will definitely be reduced. Instances of a student getting 98 per cent but still not getting admission to a good college, will definitely get reduced after this," he said. The application process for the CUET for undergraduate courses in central universities will commence on April 2 and conclude on April 30.

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According to NTA, the CUET will provide a single-window opportunity to students seeking admission to any central university across the country. The exam will be conducted in a Computer-Based Test Mode. The exam will have four parts Section IA (13 languages), Section IB (19 languages), Section II (27 domain-specific subjects) and Section III (general test). Section II offers 27 subjects, out of which a candidate may choose a maximum of six subjects while Section III involves a general test. A common entrance test for undergraduate admissions was proposed in the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

However, the concept is not entirely new. The Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) was launched in 2010 when seven newly established Central universities subscribed to it. In 2012, the government tried to extend this to all Central universities under the Education Ministry, but the proposal did not take off with some established universities expressing concern over the impact it would have on the quality of students admitted.

Over the years, more newly set-up Central universities adopted the common entrance, but the older ones stayed away. In 2021, only 12 Central universities, including Assam University in Silchar, Central University of Gujarat, Central University of Punjab, the Central University of Tamil Nadu and Central University of Jharkhand, among others, subscribed to CUET.

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