For the first time, the NTA will conduct CUET for admission to 45 central universities. The universities will have some liberty in deciding their respective admission processes. The exam scores are mandatory for undergraduate admissions in these 45 central universities.
CUET, in all likelihood, will be conducted in the first week of July, UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar announced. This means that apart from the eligibility criterion of different universities, Class 12 board examination marks will not have any bearing on the admission of the students.
Admission to undergraduate courses in these universities will henceforth be solely based on the CUET score, and Class 12 Board marks will not carry any weightage, Kumar said. The universities can, at best, use the Board exam marks as an eligibility criterion for the test, he said.
Benefits of CUET 2022
This effectively means that performance in the Class 12 Board examination will no longer be a factor in admissions across Central universities.
The Government did not favour using Board marks for admission because of the “diversity” in evaluation methods. “Some Boards are more generous than others in marking and this gives students an unfair advantage over others,” said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Talking about the benefits of CUET, he said it will provide equal opportunities to students from across boards, especially to those from the northeast and rural areas. The CUET is also expected to reduce financial burden on parents and students, as candidates will only have to write one exam.
Structure of CUET 2022
There are 45 central universities funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The syllabus of the CUET will be mirrored with the Class 12 model syllabus of the NCERT, Mr Kumar said.
The CUET will have Section 1A, Section 1B, general test and domain-specific subjects.
Section 1A, which will be compulsory, will be in 13 languages and candidates can choose the language of their choice. The options are English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Section 1B is optional and for students who want to opt for another language apart from the ones that are a part of Section 1A. Some of the languages on offer are French, Arabic, German, etc, he added.
Under the domain-specific subjects, a candidate can choose up to a maximum of six domains that they wish to pursue at the undergraduate level, Mr Kumar said.
There are some universities that have general test as eligible criteria for admission to even domain-specific courses so that is a part of the CUET, he said.
The CUET will be held in two shifts. In the first shift, candidates will be able to write one language, two domain-specific papers and the general test. In the second shift, candidates can write the remaining four domain-specific subjects and section 1B, Mr Kumar said.
Affects of CUET 2022 in Reservation
The UGC chairman said the reservation policy of the universities will not be impacted due to the CUET. “The universities can enroll candidates for the general seats as well as for the reserved seats on the basis of CUET scores. It will not impact the existing admission and reservation policy,” he said. He also said there would not be any centralized counselling after CUET. He added that CUET will not affect the quota of reserved seats at such institutions, but they will have to mandatorily admit all students through the common test.
CUET 2022: Top 10 central universities in India
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
University of Hyderabad, Telangana
Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh
University of Delhi, Delhi
Tezpur University, Assam
Pondicherry University, Pondicherry
North Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya
Visva Bharati University, West Bengal
