No Class 12 marks, common entrance test must for central universities: What this big change means for students

More changes in higher education are on the cards. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided that a common entrance test will be held from this academic year to decide the admission to undergraduate courses in all 45 central universities in the country. This test is mandatory and the first one will be held in the first week of July.What’s the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)? And how will it change the admission process? What about  cutoff lists? Here is everything you need to know about CUET.A computerised examination, the CUET will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The application window for the text will open in the first week of April and announcement on the test pattern is expected today.According to UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, admission to undergraduate courses in central universities will be based only on the CUET score. Class 12 Board exam marks will not carry any weightage. The university can used the Board marks as an eligibility criteria for the test, he said.The introduction of CUET makes Class 12 Board examination performance largely redundant. It will also do away with the trend of steep cutoff marks in Delhi University, where some colleges have an eligibility criteria of 100 per cent marks in the first list to admit students.Which universities will be covered?When asked if the test would apply for Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia and Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh Muslim University, Kumar reiterated that the entrance exam would be mandatory for all central universities. Other prominent universities that will be covered by CUET include the Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indira Gandhi National Open University in the capital and Banaras Hindu University in UP. Each university will admit students based on a merit list prepared by the NTA.The CEUT will not affect the quota for reserved seats in universities like Jamia, but all students will have to be admitted only after clearing the common test.On Tuesday, Delhi University’s will discuss the admission process for undergraduate courses on the basis of CEUT.What will be the test syllabus?The entrance test will be based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training textbooks. The syllabus will “mirror the Class 12” syllabus, the UGC chairperson said.The test will have three sections – the first will be language, the second will be on the subject of specilisation, and the third will be on general knowledge and reasoning, according to a report in The Print.The CEUT will have multiple choice questions and there will be negative marks for incorrect answers. In 2022, the exam will be held in 13 languages – English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odisha, Assamese, and Urdu.The exam will reportedly be conducted in two shifts. In the first shift, students will be tested on languages, two chosen domain subjects, and the general test. In the second shift, they will be tested for the other four domain subjects and an additional language, which is optional, reports The Indian Express.Who can appear for the CEUT?Candidates will need to have cleared the Class 12 Board exams to sit for the entrance test. The emphasis has been on making the eligibility criteria inclusive.“Minimum criteria should be rephrased as the candidates must have passed the Class XII examination or equivalent thereto from a single recognised board,” said the minutes of the standing committee meeting held on 17 March.Foreign students are exempted from the entrance test and will be admitted on merit.“Reducing burden on students”“We believe that as envisaged in the national education policy (NEP), the CUET will provide a common platform to get admission in all universities and colleges across the country. The CUET should provide equal opportunities to candidates,” the UGC chairman said.“This is basically to reduce the burden on the students and the universities and the colleges and in fact the entire education system,” he added.Welcoming the change, Hansraj College principal Rama told The Indian Express, “It brings everyone on a par. The best part is that the CUET will be conducted in all regional languages, so that nobody gets left behind,” she said.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.