The education ministry and National Testing Agency are planning to bring in modifications in the Common University Entrance Test– Under Graduate (CUET-UG) system next year following several complaints of glitches in the conduct of the maiden test by the central government agency recently, an official and vice-chancellors of two central universities told The Telegraph.

From next year, CUET-UG is likely to be held twice a year and aspirants may be required to score a certain percentage of marks in Class XII to be able to get admission. Also, the CUET-UG scores are to be valid for admission for a certain period.

“Some preliminary discussions have taken place on this issue. There is possibility of holding the CUET-UG twice a year — the first round around December and the second round around March. The best score from the test would be used for merit ranking,” an official said.

CUET-UG, which was conducted by the NTA for the first time, was marred by technical glitches from the beginning. Out of 15 lakh candidates, six lakh could not take the test. CUET-UG is the sole criteria for admission into undergraduate courses in central universities.The NTA is currently holding the Joint Entrance Examination Mains twice a year. The best score of a student in both the exams is considered for ranking, which is used for admission into BTech courses in National Institutes of Technology. The NITs have an additional requirement mandating students to score over 75 per cent marks in their respective board exam.

In a similar way, the UG aspirants for central universities may be required to score a certain percentage of marks in their board exam, the official said.A VC said students were ignoring school education because 100 per cent weightage was being given to CUET-UG. One way of ensuring that the students get their focus back on school education is to prescribe minimum eligibility criteria of certain marks, he said.Delhi University registrar Vikas Gupta said the DU had already taken a step to give importance to board exams.

“We are going to admit students in all our colleges by giving 100 per cent weightage to CUET-UG. However, if there is a tie, the Class XII board score will be used as tie-breaker,” Gupta said.