UGC plans to integrate NEET, JEE with CUET
What's the story
The University Grants Commission (UGC) is considering a proposal to integrate engineering and medical admission exams into the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG). The higher education authority is forming a committee to consult with various parties in order to achieve an agreement. According to the proposal, students can take the test just once and pick from a variety of subjects of study.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The objective of the proposal is to relieve students of the stress of several tests while they are being examined in the same set of courses. It will also solve the problem of overlapping in major national-level admission tests. Notably, CUET is the country's second-largest admission test after NEET-UG. It had almost 14.9 lakh registrations this year while NEET-UG received around 18 lakh.
Impacts
How would the decision make any difference?
As per the officials, merging the NEET and JEE with the all-India-based CUET test would expand the horizon for undergraduate, integrated, postgraduate, diploma, and certification programs at India's 45 Central Universities. They said the decision will also allow students to explore several options through a single examination. They would also avoid stress as a result of the various entrance examinations.
Statement
What do the officials say?
According to UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar, the policy's adoption will allow students to sit the test once and be qualified for other fields of study, rather than only four disciplines like physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology. He stated that the higher education authority was forming a committee to seek an agreement among diverse parties.
Quote
'One exam, multiple opportunities'
"The proposal can integrate all these entrance examinations so that our students are not subjected to multiple entrance examinations based on the same knowledge base," said Kumar. "The students should have one single entrance examination, but multiple opportunities to apply among the disciplines," he added.
Details
Policy will ease logistic for candidates and NTA
The commission sees the move as a step toward easing logistics for both candidates and the National Testing Agency (NTA). "If the number of tests is minimized, then there is a possibility that from a logistics point of view for NTA, it will become much easier. We can have only one set of question papers for all these subjects," said Kumar.