First Of Its Kind! Common Entrance Test For Central Universities To Be Held In July 2022

In a first, 45 Central universities around India will be conducting the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in July 2022. The University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman, M Jagadesh Kumar, announced that the mandatory test would be held for students applying in institutes for undergraduate courses. Effectively, this does away with the dependence on Class 12 board marks, which played an integral role in admission formalities.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has been responsible for holding the computerised exam. The application window for the same will be announced in April, while the test pattern will be published soon. However, the reservation criteria in the universities will remain unchanged as the CUET will give admission to students who are in the general quota.

CUET's Salient Features

The CUET is mandatory for all Central universities that the UGC funds. The prestigious institutions that come under this are Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Aligarh Muslim University, Benaras Hindu University, Jamia Millia Islamia, among many others. The test will carry multiple-choice questions based on the NCERT textbooks, and each incorrect answer will be given a negative mark.

Also, the exam will be conducted in 13 languages: Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia, Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali Punjabi, Assamese and English. It will be conducted in two shifts. The first shift consists of two chosen domain subjects, languages and a general test, whereas the second shift will have four domain subjects and an additional languages test.

Possible Even-Playing Field

The primary purpose of the Common Entrance Test is to give the students an even playing field when it comes to admission in undergraduate courses. For years, Delhi University has given Class 12 board marks weightage in renowned colleges in the national capital. According to The Indian Express, seven DU colleges had a 100% cut-off in colleges to admit students in 10 programs.

Compared to the national boards, each state board has different evaluation criteria. Speaking to the news publication, an official explains, "Some boards are more generous than others in marking, and this gives their students an unfair advantage over others." Only time will tell the CUET's effectiveness. From the looks of it, it is a good system that gives each student an equal chance to get into the university of their dreams.

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