National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), may become obsolete. If the University Grants Commission’s latest proposal is accepted, NEET and JEE Main exams may be combined with the recently launched Common University Entrance Test or CUET, making CUET a single entrance test for all.
Professor M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the UGC, told a reporter that the commission is working on a proposal to merge the separate entrance examinations for medical and engineering into the CUET. Kumar told reporters that there was no reason for a student to take a separate exam to demonstrate proficiency in the same subjects.
Currently, students must take the NEET for medical and dental education, the JEE Main for engineering courses, and the CUET (introduced this year) for admission to degree programmes in science, humanities, and commerce at various universities. If the proposal is approved, students will be required to take one examination. The results of this national level exam would then open doors for all students.
The chairperson told a reporter that the higher education regulator is looking into it. A committee has also been formed to investigate and reach an agreement on the feasibility of merging the three national level examinations.
Kumar told the reporter, “The proposal is, can we integrate all these entrance examinations so that our students are not subjected to multiple entrance examinations based on the same knowledge base? The students should have one single entrance examination, but multiple opportunities to apply among the disciplines.”
He went on to say that only CUET could be considered for incorporating all disciplines. “Students who would like to go into engineering, their marks in mathematics, physics, chemistry can be used as a ranking list and similarly for medicine,” he told a reporter.
The rationale behind the move is not only for student convenience, but also to simplify logistics for the National Testing Agency, NTA, which administers all examinations. One entrance examination would simplify the logistics of conducting national level exams while also providing convenience to students, who currently have to manage dates, different exam centres, and other factors.
The proposal is to hold one entrance examination twice a year in online CBT format. If accepted, students may be able to take the exam twice: once in May-June (after the boards) and again in December. If the possibilities are considered, they may expand the options for students, giving them the freedom to choose and removing the multi-layers.