One Nation One Entrance: UGC plan to merge NEET, JEE into CUET UG Exam

UGC might introduce a common entrance exam for NEET and JEE, named CUET for entrance into undergraduate courses. The objective of this exam is to reduce pressure and have one exam instead of three

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is planning to incorporate medical and engineering entrances into the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), according to a Times of India report. The motive of this step would be to test students on the same knowledge based on one test.

According to the report published on Thursday, the new proposal will allow students to appear for one entrance test, instead of individually writing tests for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics. Their respective score would play a crucial role in deciding their desired stream based on their performance. UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said that the idea is to unburden students from the additional pressure of appearing in multiple exams.

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Not just the core subjects, students will also have a chance in other courses offered under the umbrella of CUET-UG.

Common Universities Entrance Test (CUET): Current Scenario

CUET is the second biggest entrance exam with 1.49 million students registering for it. This national-level exam is an entry ticket to most undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programme courses, and was introduced by the UGC for admission into distinct central universities and colleges.

Also, there are 12 state universities, 19 private universities, and 11 deemed universities that will be part of the first edition of the CUET-UG for admissions in the 2022-23 session.

Common Universities Entrance Test (CUET): JEE and NEET 

In 2022, around 4.3 million students appeared in the three main entrance examinations - Joint Entrance Exam (main), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (medical entrance test), and CUET-UG.

According to the rules, students who want to take engineering appear for JEE mains and take up tests on Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics. On the contrary, medical students take up Biology instead of Mathematics and take Physics and Chemistry tests separately.

All these topics cover a part of CUET- UG's 61 domain topics. The proposal is to integrate all these entrance exams so that students are not subjected to additional pressure and appear for multiple exams on a similar knowledge base.

Kumar told TOI that students should have one common entrance exam, but multiple opportunities to apply among different disciplines. Also, marks in Physics, mathematics, biology, and chemistry can be used as a ranking list for engineering and medical aspirants.