The University Grants Commission (UGC) stated on Monday that the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) will be required for undergraduate admission to any of the country\’s 45 central universities.
Why is there a common entrance exam?
Several governments have attempted to replace multiple entrance tests with a single one in order to alleviate the load on higher education applicants over the years. Even CUET is not a novel concept. It was first introduced in 2010 under the UPA-II administration as the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET), but just 14 central universities had adopted it till last year.
CUET is a redesigned version of CUCET that is now required of all 45 core universities. This follows the release of the new National Education Policy (NEP), which promotes the use of an entrance exam for university admissions.
What does this entail for undergraduate admissions at a prestigious central university like Delhi University, for example?
In the case of Delhi University, sky-high cut-off grades will be a thing of the past. The results of a student\’s Board exams will have no bearing on her acceptance to a college or programme. It will be solely determined by her CUET score. In the best-case scenario, institutions associated with Delhi University — or any central university for that matter — can use Board scores as a minimum admissions criterion.
For skill-based courses that have major practical components, such as music, painting, sculpture and theatre, universities will be allowed to conduct practical exams or interviews along with CUET. For professional programmes such as engineering and MBBS, central universities will admit through the entrance exams JEE (Main) and NEET respectively.
So, when and who will conduct the CUET?
In the first week of July, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which administers entrance exams such as JEE (Main) and UGC-NET, will administer the CUET to all central universities. It will be a computer-based test offered in two shifts in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, and English. However, it is unclear if the CUET would be held on a single day or across several days.
The examination application window will open in the first week of April. There will be no uniform counselling for admission to central universities based on the CUET result, unlike JEE (Main).Each university is able to create its own admissions procedure based on the NTA\’s merit list. However, UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar did not rule out the possibility of future joint counselling.
What will a candidate be tested on in the CUET?
The three-and-a-half-hour computer-based entrance exam, according to the UGC chairman, will solely feature multiple choice questions based on the content of NCERT textbooks. CUET will be divided into three sections.
The first portion will assess a candidate\’s ability to communicate in a language of her choice. This will include, among other things, reading comprehension, vocabulary problems, synonyms and antonyms. There will be a total of 13 languages to choose from. A candidate will have the option of taking another language test from a basket of 19 languages, including French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese, in addition to the mandatory language test.
The second component of the CUET examines a candidate\’s domain-specific knowledge. There are a total of 27 domains in this section, and a candidate can choose to have her knowledge tested in at least one and up to six of them. For each programme, each central university will determine which domain-specific test a candidate must take.
The third section of the entrance exam will consist of general knowledge, current events, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning (simple, application of basic mathematical concepts arithmetic/algebra geometry/mensuration/stat taught until class 8) and logical and analytical reasoning. An applicant will only take the general test if the programme and university of choice require it.
Why is it that CUET is only available at central universities?
CUET is now only required for central universities, although the government is open to other institutions, including private universities, using it in place of their own.Want to get any information about CUET. please visit www.collzy.com