For admission in Undergraduate programs from academic session 2022-2023 in all UGC funded Central Universities, the Common University Entrance Test (#CUET) will be conducted in 13 languages. Application will be available in 1st week of April 2022. Link: https://t.co/dKUGq46jH4
— Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia) March 22, 2022
On March 21, 2022, the University Grants Commission (UGC) made an announcement about the introduction of the Central University Entrance Test (CUET), which will be mandatory for undergraduate admission at any of the 45 central universities in the country.
Various governments, for the longest time, have tried to replace multiple entrance tests with a single one to reduce the pressure on higher education aspirants. In fact, even the concept of CUET is not something that has just come up. It had been launched as the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) in 2010 under the UPA-II government..but had failed since it could not get a lot of attention, only 14 central universities had adopted it until last year.
What made the Government bring this Shift?
The government was not keen on using Board marks for admission because of the various methods used in evaluation by different Boards. “Some Boards are more generous than others in marking and this gives their students an unfair advantage over others,” said a government official who spoke on anonymity.
UGC chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar also mentioned that there are quite a few examples of admission happening purely based on entrance performance in India. “For example, at IIT admissions, we use JEE scores primarily because of the diversity of the boards, and different kinds of evaluation systems. The same is true for university admission also. That is the reason why we are giving one standard, NCERT syllabus, so everybody can prepare from there, and have a common reference.”
However, a college and university have a choice to set minimum eligibility on board marks.
Additionally, using CUET examinations for admissions in private, deemed and state-owned universities is voluntary.
For example, DU will no longer have high cut-off marks, instead, everyone will be given a fair chance to apply and prove themselves. The board’s marks will play no role in determining whether one will get admission to DU or any Central University as a matter of fact.
“For skill-based courses that have major practical components, such as music, painting, sculpture and theater, universities will be allowed to conduct practical exams or interviews along with CUET. For professional programs such as engineering and MBBS, central universities will admit through the entrance exams JEE (Main) and NEET respectively.”
CUET – Conduction Process, Pattern and Syllabus
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts entrance tests such as JEE (Main) and UGC-NET, will likewise conduct CUET for all central universities in the first week of July.
CUET – Conduction Process, Pattern and Syllabus
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts entrance tests such as JEE (Main) and UGC-NET, will likewise conduct CUET for all central universities in the first week of July.
| Mode of Exam | Computer-Based, conducted in 2 Shifts |
| Mode of Languages | 13 – English, Hindi, Odia, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, Assamese, Gujarati and Bengali |
| Application Dates | 1st Week of April |
| Counseling for Admission | No common counseling for admission to central universities on the basis of CUET score |
| Joint Counselling | Not Ruled Yet |
Note – However, it’s not confirmed whether CUET will be conducted at once or stretched over a period.
Test Pattern
The first part of the test will be based on the language of their preference. This will consist of reading comprehension, questions related to vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, etc. There will be a choice of 13 languages. A student has to appear for one language test (compulsory) but has a choice to appear for an additional test from the basket of 19 – French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.
The second part of the test will be subject-specific to the program they applied for, testing the student’s domain-specific knowledge. This section offers a total of 27 subjects, and a student has to appear for at least one and a maximum of six subjects. Each central university can specify which domain-specific test should a student take for which program.
The third part of the entrance test will be a common test with questions on general knowledge, current affairs, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning (simple, application of basic mathematical concepts arithmetic/algebra geometry/mensuration/stat taught till class 8), logical and analytical reasoning. A student will only appear for the general test if it’s deemed necessary for the program and university of choice. will have to first check a program’s requirements and appear for a combination of domain-specific tests, language tests and general tests (if required), accordingly.
For further updates, stay tuned!
