NTA considering conducting CUET twice a year from next session: UGC chairman

The Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) will neither make the board exams irrelevant nor give a push to “coaching culture”, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said on Tuesday, asserting that students from state boards will not be at a disadvantage in the undergraduate admission process.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which is responsible for conducting the exams, will consider conducting the CUET twice a year from the next session, he said.

In an interview to PTI, Kumar said CUET will not just be limited to admissions in Central Universities as several prominent private universities have indicated that they would like to come on board for using the scores from the common entrance exam for undergraduate admissions.

“To begin with CUET will be conducted once this year but NTA will consider conducting the exam at least twice a year from next session. The entrance exam will not just be limited to Central Universities but also private varsities. Several prominent private universities have indicated that they would like to come on board and admit students through CUET,” he said.

Kumar had last week announced that CUET scores, and not Class XII scores, will be mandatory for admission to 45 central universities and the central universities can fix their minimum eligibility criteria.

Asked whether the exam will lead to a “coaching culture” for undergraduate admissions, Kumar said, “The exam will simply not require any coaching so there is no question of it giving push to a coaching culture. The exam will be completely based on class 12 syllabus. Lot of students are getting concerned whether the exam will also have questions from class 11 syllabus. The answer is a clear no”.