CET for UG, PG courses in central varsities may be held by NTA from next session: UGC

The National Testing Agency (NTA) may conduct the Common Entrance Test (CET) for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in central universities from the 2022-2023 academic year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said.

The UGC has also said the NET scores may be used for admission to PhD programmes wherever feasible.

“All central universities are advised to take appropriate measures for the Common Entrance Test from the academic session 2022-2023. These tests will be conducted in a minimum of 13 languages in which NTA is already conducting JEE and NEET examinations," the UGC said in a letter to vice-chancellors of all universities.

“The Common Entrance Test may also be adopted by willing state/private universities/deemed to be universities,” the letter said.

The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, had proposed a CET for all universities to be conducted by the NTA, which will serve as an autonomous testing organisation to offer high-quality common aptitude test as well as specialised common subject exams.

The exam will be designed to assess the conceptual understanding of students and their ability to apply knowledge. Through this exam, universities will have access to each student's individual subject portfolios, and students will be able to appear for exams in the area of their choice.

A committee set up to look into the modalities for conducting the test for central universities held several rounds of discussions and met the vice-chancellors of all central universities.

The Union ministry of education had earlier announced that admission to universities will be based on a CET from the 2021 academic session but the plan could not take off because of challenges posed by COVID-19.

CET is believed to drastically reduce the burden on students, universities and colleges, as well as the costs involved with administering exams.