UGC Appeals to All Universities to Adopt CUET From 2022-23 Academic Year

Adopting CUET will also provide equal opportunities to students from different boards, the UGC Secretary said.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Sunday, 27 March, appealed to colleges, private universities and public universities under the state governments, to adopt the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for under graduate programmes in Central Universities for the Academic Session 2022-23.

UGC secretary Rajnish Jain asked the directors, vice-chancellors and principals of all universities and colleges to accede to CUET, the application process for which will begin from 2 April and end on 30 April.

CUET has been made mandatory for the 45 central universities for the coming academic year.

The UGC Secretary reasoned in his letter to the authorities that if all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), irrespective of their affiliation, adopt the CUET, students will no longer have to appear for multiple entrance exams.

Adopting CUET will also help provide equal opportunities to students from different boards, Jain added.

“Many state universities, deemed to be universities, private universities, and other Higher Education Institutions in the country also use either marks of 12th board or conduct entrance test for admission in UG programmes," the letter stated.

CUET will "save students from appearing in multiple entrance examinations, conducted in different dates, sometimes coinciding with each other, and to also provide equal opportunity to all students from different boards," it read on.

"UGC invites and encourages all state universities, deemed to be universities, private universities and other HEIs to adopt and use CUET score from 2022-23 onwards for admissions of students in their UG programs,” it concluded.

The test is scheduled for July and will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). More details will be up on the NTA website soon.

The entrance test is going to replace the dependence of central universities on the board results. Universities can set their own eligibility criteria based on the board results. However, the admission will depend solely on the performance in the entrance test.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)