All central universities including Central University of Kashmir and Jammu will have to admit students for undergraduate courses via Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores. The new rule is set to come into force from the upcoming academic year (2022-2023). This means Class 12 marks will not be the eligibility criteria for students taking admission in undergraduate courses as they will now have to undergo an entrance test -CUET

From the 2022-23 academic year, the National Testing Agency will be conducting the CUET for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. All the central universities will have to consider CUET scores for admissions to their programmes,” UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said in an announcement on Monday.

According to the UGC, students will be admitted to central universities for undergraduate courses from the upcoming academic year (2022-2023) via CUET and not Class 12 result. This means Class 12 result will not be the primary criteria for admissions in central universities for undergraduate courses.

Students need to know that the syllabus of the entrance exam – CUET – for undergraduate admissions in central universities will be based on NCERT syllabus of Class 12.

CUET, the computerised exam, will be conducted in 13 languages – English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, Kanada, Odia, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil.

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. 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, UGC chairman Kumar said.

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, Kumar said. Some of the domains are anthropology, accounting, book-keeping, etc. There are some universities that have general test as eligibility criteria for admission to even domain-specific courses so that is a part of the CUET.

The universities will be allowed to conduct practical and interviews for courses like music, fine arts, theatre, along with CUET.

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, Kumar said.

He said the common entrance test will provide equal opportunities to students from across boards, especially to those from the northeast and rural areas. Will reservations in varsities affect due to CUET

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 that are in accordance with the Ordinances of the varsity,” UGC chairman Kumar said.