CUET: UGC to write to education ministers of all states; hold meetings with VCs of public-funded varsities

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New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) will be writing to education ministers of all states and union territories urging them to get the public-funded universities on board for adopting the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for undergraduate admissions, UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said.

The UGC chief will also be meeting vice-chancellors from all state-funded universities on the issue and will address their queries about the exam. "I will be writing to education ministers of all states and UTs about the CUET. I will also be meeting VCs of all state-funded universities to encourage them to come on board for adopting the CUET for undergraduate admissions so more and more students can benefit with the parity and get a level playing field," Kumar told PTI.

To begin with, the UGC Chief met 25 vice-chancellors from universities in Gujarat. "We had a detailed discussion. They have expressed interest in coming on board. The universities will now be placing the issue before their statutory bodies like the Academic and Executive Council. If there are certain queries and concerns, we are ready to hold consultations and address them," he added.

Kumar had last week announced that CUET scores, and not Class XII scores, will be mandatory for admission to 45 central universities and the central universities can fix their minimum eligibility criteria. "I will be meeting next the vice-chancellors from Assam and Karnataka," he said. Kumar had on Tuesday told PTI that eight deemed-to-be universities including the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Jamia Hamdard have also expressed a desire to use CUET scores to admit students to the undergraduate course and top private universities are in touch with the Commission to come on board for using CUET in their admission process.

The application process for the CUET for undergraduate courses in central universities will commence from April 2. According to NTA, the CUET will provide a single-window opportunity to students seeking admission in any central university across the country. The exam will be conducted in a Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode.