UGC Plans NEET, JEE Like Common Counselling for CUET UG Admissions

The University Grants Commission, famously known as UGC, is planning to introduce a major change in admission process of the CUET UG exam. The UGC plans to conduct a common counselling for undergraduate admissions based on CUET UG scores. The common counselling process is being though out along the lines of medical and engineering exams like NEET and JEE respectively. The UGC has constituted a panel of experts from different universities regarding this process.

Common Counselling for CUET UG Admissions

The University Grants Commission (UGC), after requesting that central and state universities use the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG for admission, plans to perform common admission counselling as well. According to sources, the UGC has already created a team involving officials from various universities to work on this issue. Five universities have been included as a sample or pilot program. However, it is unclear whether the common CUET counselling for these five universities will be conducted during the upcoming admission season.

What is CUET UG

The CUET UG stands for Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduates. CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admissions to central universities, has received over 14.9 lakh registrations, making it India’s second-largest entrance test, above JEE-Main’s average registration of nine lakh. CUET-UG, which is scheduled to take place from May 15 to May 31 in 2024, was created in 2022 to streamline the admission procedure at central, state, recognized, and private universities across the country.

Check: CUET UG 2024 Exam Details

Why Common Counselling Process for Admission Based on CUET Scores

The UGC plans to introduce the common counselling process due to a major drawback observed in the current counselling process. CUET replaced individual central institutions’ admission policies and examinations in 2022. The National Testing Agency administers the centralised exam and publishes the CUET results, but no uniform merit list. Counselling is conducted by individual universities, which also establish minimum eligibility standards. Over the last two years, this two-tier structure has slowed college admissions and left large numbers of seats unfilled at many central universities.

Panel for Common Counselling Process for CUET UG Admissions

The UGC has formed a committee of officials from several institutions to discuss this suggestion, with five notable universities taking part in a pilot run. However, the timing for adopting this notion remains undetermined, depending on the committee’s recommendations. The panel’s goal is to run an internal pilot to determine the benefits and drawbacks of such a system. If implemented, it would provide a unified admission platform, allowing students to express their choices through a single site rather than submitting separately to colleges, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The committee’s evaluation will determine the feasibility of this effort, and stakeholder consultations will follow. M Jagadesh Kumar, the UGC Chairman, declined to comment on the matter. Previously, the UGC considered combining the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for engineering and the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical degrees with CUET-UG, which was implemented in 2022. However, there have been no additional advancements in this regard.

CUET Common Counselling: JNU, BHU among Pilot Universities

With the single counselling, the participating universities would use a uniform merit list based on CUET scores, similar to the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main for engineering and the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET UG) for medical. The universities include Mizoram University, University of Hyderabad, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Kashmir University, and Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

As per an official of the UGC, “A discussion has been going on for the previous three months, and the UGC has also constituted a committee on this. Five universities have also been selected as samples. We’re not sure how this will be done or how realistic the procedure is. Integrating universities is difficult because they are varied and have their own processes. Such changes necessitate long-term preparation,”.

Also Check: CUET UG 2024 Syllabus

New Changes in CUET 2024

Apart from the plans to consider for a common counselling process, the UGC had already introduced some changes in the CUET UG 2024 exam. In a departure from precedent, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has proposed a hybrid exam format for CUET-UG 2024. This format contains both computer-based testing and pen-and-paper formats for many subjects. Subjects with high registration volumes will use a pen-and-paper format with optical mark recognition (OMR), while others will stay computer-based. CUET-UG’s enormous registration number of roughly 14.9 lakh in the previous cycle demonstrates its relevance in the higher education landscape.

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