New Delhi: Admissions to various programmes in as many as 15 central universities in the country could be held through a common entrance test from the next academic session.
The Ministry of Human Resource and Development is likely to make a formal announcement in this regard soon. The test will be conducted by the National Testing Agency, according to some news reports.
The single entrance exam will be conducted for about 300 undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes.
As of now, the Central University in Rajasthan conducts a Central University Common Entrance Test (CUCET), the scores of which are accepted by about 10 central universities.
“The objective now is to rope in more central universities under a single entrance test. The test will be conducted by NTA, the premier testing agency of the country. It is planning to get in more central universities under the ambit of a common admission test,” officials in the HRD Ministry were quoted as saying.
There are 49 central universities in the country at present. The older universities such as Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Central University of Hyderabad, Visva Bharti University, among others conduct their own entrance tests for admission.
While the newer universities, according to sources, have favoured a common entrance test, the older ones have remained evasive on the issue.