According to the UGC, the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG will be conducted in three shifts instead of two in a day this year and plans to merge it with important entrance exams like JEE and NEET will be announced at least two years in advance. President M Jagadesh Kumar
In an interview to PTI, Kumar said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Testing Agency (NTA) are geared up to ensure that the second edition of CUET-UG is glitch-free.
“Regarding the students’ experience last year, I agree that there were glitches in some centers and this year we are taking care of all the issues related to the students’ experience. We will make sure that this time the students have to focus only on the exam and not on any potential pitfalls and how we’re doing that.
“We are doing this by identifying the centers in advance and looking at the available infrastructure including computers, bandwidth, technical personnel at the centres, so that the second edition is glitch-free,” he added.
“I agree that last time there were many glitches during the exam, but this year all the issues have been resolved. Keeping in mind the experience of the students, a plan has been prepared and we are ready to ensure That’s all the candidates need to worry about.” No more messing around about exams,” he said.
The second edition of the exam, a common entrance gate for undergraduate admission in central universities across the country, is scheduled from May 21 to 31.
Kumar said that under Plan B, arrangements have been made for additional computers and additional centers so that in case of any glitch, the candidates can be shifted there and the examination of a particular shift cannot be cancelled.
“The schedule has been decided in such a way that the academic calendar can be brought back on track from this year itself,” he added.
The UGC chief also announced that the exams would be conducted in three shifts from this year, moving away from the usual pattern.
Asked about the proposal to merge CUET with engineering entrance exam JEE and medical entrance exam NEET, he said, “It is certainly doable. The details are being worked out, but whenever the merger happens, So the announcement will be made at least two years in advance. Students can prepare accordingly.”
“NEP 2020 has clearly stated that having a single national level entrance exam should reduce the burden on the students. We thought to prepare the students mentally that NEP has made such a proposal and its implementation in the coming years There is a possibility. We are working internally.” How to take it forward? Several stakeholders including the Health Ministry are being consulted.
The UGC had announced in March last year that undergraduate admissions in all central universities would be conducted through a common entrance test and not on the basis of class 12 marks.
The first edition of CUET-UG was conducted in July last year and had some glitches, which forced the NTA to cancel the exam at several centres. While many students were informed about the cancellation a night before the exams, many of them were turned away from the centres.
The UGC chairman had then said that the exams have been canceled following reports of “sabotage” at some centres.
With 14.9 lakh registrations, CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admission to all central universities, became the country’s second largest entrance exam, surpassing JEE-Main’s average registration of nine lakh.
“We have already received over 11.5 lakh registrations this year. The deadline has been extended till March 30 and we are expecting to surpass last year’s numbers,” Kumar said.
When asked about the “normalisation” of marks, which left many aspirants disappointed as they found their marks reduced from their original marks, making it difficult for them to get their dream college, he said that due to the process Efforts have been made to minimize any errors throughout.
He said, “The schedule of the exam has been compressed this year to 10 days instead of one and a half months to reduce any error in generalization as the variation is more when the exam is conducted for a longer period of time.” ” ,
The normalization formula has been decided by a panel consisting of professors from the Indian Statistical Institute, IIT Delhi and Delhi University using the “Equipercentile Method”.
Kumar informed that CUET centers have been identified in three categories.
“We have classified the centers into category A, B and C. Some centers where we faced problems last year were divided into category C and we will not use those centers this time.”
“Category B will have centers where we need to take over the centers and do some groundwork and ensure that suitable infrastructure is available. Category A centers are absolutely fine,” he said.