CUET to be carried out in 3 shifts; merger with JEE, NEET to be introduced 2 yrs upfront: UGC chief

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG shall be carried out in three shifts this 12 months as a substitute of two and plans for its merger with essential entrance exams like JEE and NEET shall be introduced a minimum of two years upfront, based on UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar.

In an interview to PTI, Kumar mentioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Testing Agency (NTA) are ready to make sure that the second version of CUET-UG is glitch-free. “With respect to experience of students last year, I do agree that at few centres there were glitches and this year we are taking care of all issues related to those kind of experiences that the students went through. We will make sure that this time the students have to focus only on exams and not on any possible glitches and how are we doing that. We are doing that by identifying the centres well in advance and by looking at the infrastructure that is available including the computers, bandwidth, technical personnel at the centres, so that the second edition is glitch-free,” he mentioned.

“I agree there were several glitches during the exam last time but this year all issues have been ironed out. Keeping in mind the experience of the students, a plan has been chalked out and we are ready to ensure that the candidates just have to worry about the exam and not any glitches,” he mentioned.

Kumar mentioned that further computer systems and additional centres have been organized as plan B in order that in case there are any glitches, the candidates might be shifted there and the examination for a selected shift is not going to be cancelled.

The UGC chief additionally introduced that in a deviation from the same old sample, the examination shall be carried out in three shifts this 12 months.

Asked in regards to the proposal to merge CUET with the engineering entrance examination JEE and the medical entrance examination NEET, he mentioned, “It is definitely doable. The details are being worked out but whenever the merger happens, announcements will be made at least two years in advance so the students can prepare accordingly. NEP 2020 has clearly said the burden should be reduced on students by having a single national-level entrance examination. We floated the idea to mentally prepare students that NEP has proposed such a thing and there is a possibility in the coming years. We are working internally on how to take this forward.”

The UGC had in March final 12 months introduced that undergraduate admissions shall be carried out in all central universities by means of a standard entrance check and never on the premise of sophistication 12 marks.

The debut version of the CUET-UG was carried out in July final 12 months and was marred by glitches, prompting the NTA to cancel the examination at a number of centres. While a number of college students have been knowledgeable about cancellation an evening earlier than the examination, a lot of them have been turned away from centres.

The UGC chairman had then mentioned the examination at sure centres have been cancelled following experiences of “sabotage”.

With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET, the frequent gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities, turned the second largest entrance examination within the nation, surpassing JEE-Main’s common registration of 9 lakh.

“We have already received over 11.5 lakh registrations this year. The deadline has been extended till March 30 and we are expecting the applications to cross last year’s number,” Kumar mentioned.

Asked about “normalisation” of scores which left a number of aspirants disillusioned as they discovered their marks diminished from their unique scores, making it tough for them to get their dream school, he mentioned efforts have been made to minimise any errors throughout the course of.

“The schedule of the exam has been compressed this year to 10 days instead of over one and half month in order to minimise any errors in the normalisation as the variation is more when the exam is held over a bigger period of time,” he mentioned.

The normalisation formulation utilizing the “equipercentile method” has been determined by a panel comprising professors from Indian Statistical Institute, IIT Delhi and Delhi University.

Kumar defined that CUET centres have been recognized in three classes. “We have categorised the centres in categories A, B and C. Some of the centres where we faced problems last year were divided into category C and we will not use those centres this time. The category B will have the centres where we need to handhold the centres and some groundwork needs to be done and make sure appropriate infrastructure is available. Category A centres are absolutely fine,” he mentioned.

NEW DELHI: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG shall be carried out in three shifts this 12 months as a substitute of two and plans for its merger with essential entrance exams like JEE and NEET shall be introduced a minimum of two years upfront, based on UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar.

In an interview to PTI, Kumar mentioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Testing Agency (NTA) are ready to make sure that the second version of CUET-UG is glitch-free. “With respect to experience of students last year, I do agree that at few centres there were glitches and this year we are taking care of all issues related to those kind of experiences that the students went through. We will make sure that this time the students have to focus only on exams and not on any possible glitches and how are we doing that. We are doing that by identifying the centres well in advance and by looking at the infrastructure that is available including the computers, bandwidth, technical personnel at the centres, so that the second edition is glitch-free,” he mentioned.

“I agree there were several glitches during the exam last time but this year all issues have been ironed out. Keeping in mind the experience of the students, a plan has been chalked out and we are ready to ensure that the candidates just have to worry about the exam and not any glitches,” he mentioned.googletag.cmd.push(operate() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Kumar mentioned that further computer systems and additional centres have been organized as plan B in order that in case there are any glitches, the candidates might be shifted there and the examination for a selected shift is not going to be cancelled.

The UGC chief additionally introduced that in a deviation from the same old sample, the examination shall be carried out in three shifts this 12 months.

Asked in regards to the proposal to merge CUET with the engineering entrance examination JEE and the medical entrance examination NEET, he mentioned, “It is definitely doable. The details are being worked out but whenever the merger happens, announcements will be made at least two years in advance so the students can prepare accordingly. NEP 2020 has clearly said the burden should be reduced on students by having a single national-level entrance examination. We floated the idea to mentally prepare students that NEP has proposed such a thing and there is a possibility in the coming years. We are working internally on how to take this forward.”

The UGC had in March final 12 months introduced that undergraduate admissions shall be carried out in all central universities by means of a standard entrance check and never on the premise of sophistication 12 marks.

The debut version of the CUET-UG was carried out in July final 12 months and was marred by glitches, prompting the NTA to cancel the examination at a number of centres. While a number of college students have been knowledgeable about cancellation an evening earlier than the examination, a lot of them have been turned away from centres.

The UGC chairman had then mentioned the examination at sure centres have been cancelled following experiences of “sabotage”.

With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET, the frequent gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities, turned the second largest entrance examination within the nation, surpassing JEE-Main’s common registration of 9 lakh.

“We have already received over 11.5 lakh registrations this year. The deadline has been extended till March 30 and we are expecting the applications to cross last year’s number,” Kumar mentioned.

Asked about “normalisation” of scores which left a number of aspirants disillusioned as they discovered their marks diminished from their unique scores, making it tough for them to get their dream school, he mentioned efforts have been made to minimise any errors throughout the course of.

“The schedule of the exam has been compressed this year to 10 days instead of over one and half month in order to minimise any errors in the normalisation as the variation is more when the exam is held over a bigger period of time,” he mentioned.

The normalisation formulation utilizing the “equipercentile method” has been determined by a panel comprising professors from Indian Statistical Institute, IIT Delhi and Delhi University.

Kumar defined that CUET centres have been recognized in three classes. “We have categorised the centres in categories A, B and C. Some of the centres where we faced problems last year were divided into category C and we will not use those centres this time. The category B will have the centres where we need to handhold the centres and some groundwork needs to be done and make sure appropriate infrastructure is available. Category A centres are absolutely fine,” he mentioned.