A national-level entrance test for admission into undergraduate courses in universities will be rolled out from the next academic session and the varsities will have freedom to admit students on basis of the test results.

Higher education secretary Amit Khare said this while taking part in a webinar on the National Education Policy (NEP) and Way Forward organised by industry body Ficci on Monday.

The NEP has recommended a national common aptitude entrance test to be conducted by the National Testing Agency twice a year.

“The common entrance test will be held on pilot basis in January 2021. It will be rolled out in 2021-22 academic session. We can start with (admission of) sample universities. If any university is interested, they will be welcome to join,” Khare said.

Currently, there is no common admission test for undergraduate courses in general stream. Most universities admit students based on their Class XII marks. Certain universities hold entrance test for some of the courses.

The NEP recommended that the common aptitude test would be meant for admission into courses in sciences, humanities, languages, arts, and vocational subjects. The test will assess conceptual understanding and the ability to apply knowledge. The test will lessen the burden of students from appearing in multiple tests and also help institutions to select students smoothly.

Khare said the proposed academic credit bank, which will help students acquire academic credits from different institutions as per their convenience, will be rolled out before the next academic session. He said the credit bank would be started with IITs and Institutions of Eminence. The credit bank of the student will be linked to the Aadhaar number and maintained digitally.

He said that NEP’s recommendation for merging all education regulators by setting up of a single regulator will be taken up soon. A draft bill will be unveiled next month for creation of a Higher Education Commission of India by next month and comments will be sought from institutions.