UGC plans to merge NEET, JEE, and CUET to create one entrance examination

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is currently working on a proposal to integrate medical and engineering entrances into a single exam called the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG).

M Jagadesh Kumar, the UGC chairperson, said that as per the proposal, instead of taking separate entrance exams, aspirants will have to take the exam only once and be eligible for different fields of study. Currently, a committee is being built to talk with the stakeholders and reach a consensus.

The aim of the proposal is to integrate the entrance examinations so that students don’t have to sit for multiple entrance examinations. With only one exam, they will have multiple opportunities. 

Today, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET), Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, and CUET-UG are three major entrance examinations in India. About 43 lakh aspirants sit for these exams. In JEE (Mains), candidates have to give tests for physics, chemistry, and math, while in NEET, mathematics is replaced by biology. These subjects are part of the 61 domain subjects of CUET-UG.

The committee is working on the proposal in order to simplify the logistics for the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the aspirants. When it comes to arranging the computing facilities, in some cases, students don’t get their first preference and have to visit another city to give the exam. Minimizing the number of tests is also logical from the point of view of the NTA. The NTA also has to do separate sets of question papers for CUET, NEET, and JEE. By merging these exams, only one set would have to be prepared.

The UGC is working on discussions with the stakeholders for conducting a single exam that will be conducted twice a year—one in December and one after the Board exams.