One Nation, One Entrance: UGC proposes NEET-JEE merger with CUET

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed to merge the engineering and medical entrance exams with the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) paving way for ‘One Nation One Entrance’.

National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is conducted for admission to the undergraduate medical and dental courses while for engineering, it is JEE (Main). Physics, chemistry and mathematics are the subjects in JEE (Main) and in NEET, biology replaces mathematics.

The CUET-UG was introduced this year for admission into all UG programmes in all Central Universities. In the first edition, there were 14.9 lakh registrations.

Also read: CUET UG 2022: First edition begins in over 500 cities; 14.9 lakh registrations

According to the Union government, “The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) will provide a common platform and equal opportunities to candidates across the country, especially those from rural and other remote areas and help establish better connect with the Universities. A single examination will enable the Candidates to cover a wide outreach and be part of the admissions process to various Central Universities.”

What UGC chairperson said

UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that as per the proposal, instead of appearing for the four subjects — mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology — in three entrance exams, students can take the exam once and be eligible for and explore different fields of study, a Times of India report said.

“The proposal is, can we integrate all these entrance examinations so that our students are not subjected to multiple entrance examinations based on the same knowledge base? The students should have one single entrance examination, but multiple opportunities to apply among the disciplines,” Kumar told the newspaper.

Also read: CUET-UG for candidates affected by cancellations due to technical glitches to be held from Aug 24-28

“Typically, what are the programmes that are available? Some students may like to go into medicine or engineering. If they don’t get into either, many will be in general education. So is it possible to have only one CUET for all disciplines? The students who would like to go into engineering their marks in mathematics, physics, chemistry can be used as a ranking list and similarly for medicine,” he added.

Further, he said, “If they don’t get into medicine or engineering, under CUET they will still have the opportunity to join different programmes using the same marks of either mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and so on. So therefore, by writing once, in these four subjects, students can try for different opportunities.”

Kumar said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also envisages “one nation, one entrance” and this will reduce the students’ burden of taking multiple entrance examinations, a Hindustan Times report said.

The UGC will form a committee of experts to look at the present forms of entrance exams and the exam may be conducted twice a year to provide more opportunities to students, the report added.

Also read: UGC-NET phase 2 postponed, to be conducted between Sept 20 and 30

“The committee will make recommendations for an integrated entrance exam, which will be shared with the stakeholders. Based on that, the ministry and UGC will decide the modalities of the exam… We may conduct the first session immediately after the conclusion of board exams and other sessions can be held in November or December,” Kumar said.

Reactions

Anand Kumar, founder of ‘Super 30’ programme known for coaching underprivileged students for engineering entrance exam, said a Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) like exam, which also considers school performance, won’t work in the Indian context, as per the report.

“It is because of the huge quality difference between the central and state education boards. It has to first standardise these education boards and bring all of them at par. Otherwise, students from rural areas will suffer,” Anand said.

“We are not opposing the idea but it should not be rushed. Otherwise, it will further help the thriving coaching culture and push back students from the marginalised communities,” he added.

Also read: Foreign univs eagerly respond to new UGC norms; seek dual degree tie-ups

Keshav Agarwal, president, Educators Society — a consortium of around 300 coaching centres in Delhi, was quoted as saying in the report, “There is a huge difference between the difficulty levels of JEE and CUET exam. Besides, so many issues have been reported during the ongoing CUET exams. The government should first conduct some successful rounds of CUET and then think about implementing something like this.”

Sridhar Rajagopalan, co-founder and chief learning officer of Educational Initiatives, said that the idea is worth giving a thought if the government is planning to come up with a “high-quality test”.