No CET to enter central varsities

The human resource development (HRD) ministry is unlikely to introduce a common entrance test (CET) for admissions to all central universities.

“It is not practical because different universities offer different kinds of programmes,” HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar told DH, when asked about the status of the proposal to conduct the CET.

The minister’s remarks come four months after he presided over a meeting of Central university vice chancellors at the Banaras Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh, to review the functioning of the institutions.

Nearly 40 Central universities function under the HRD ministry. However, only nine, including those in Karnataka, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, admit students through a common entrance test.

“The core content of the programmes offered by the Central universities is the same, but their focus is different. For example, the focus of one university offering an economics (honours) programme may be on the mathematics portion, while the other might be on the theoretical aspect. When there is no uniformity in the orientation of the courses conducted by them, it is difficult to admit students through a common entrance test,” a ministry official said.

Besides, the Central universities also have varying criteria for admissions. For example, students admitted to MPhil programmes at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) are not required to take another test for admissions to the PhD programme. In contrast, an MPhil student at the Delhi University has to take a separate test for admission to the PhD programme, he added.

The proposal to conduct a common entrance test for all Central universities was under consideration of the HRD ministry for several years.

A committee of Central university vice chancellors, headed by the then vice chancellor of the JNU B B Bhattacharya, had favoured the idea in 2011.