142 varsities to join CUET-PG 2023
The exam has witnessed significant increase in the participation this year even as it continued to remain optional for central universities.
New Delhi: At least 142 universities, including 38 central varsities, are participating in the Common University Entrance Test for admissions to postgraduate courses or CUET-PG this year, officials privy to the matter said on Tuesday.
The number has gone significantly up in comparison to last year when only 66 universities had participated in the exam, the officials added.
The National Test Agency (NTA) initiated the registration process for the second edition of the CUET-PG late on Monday night and will continue till April 19. The agency is yet to announce the examination dates.
The exam has witnessed significant increase in the participation this year even as it continued to remain optional for central universities, unlike the CUET exam for undergraduate admissions or CUET-UG which is mandatory in nature. In fact, some prominent central universities that had not participated last year, including Delhi University (DU) and Jamia Millia Islamia, will also consider CUET-PG for admissions to many of their postgraduate programmes.
Meanwhile, University Grants Commission (UGC) chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that since the schedule for both CUET-UG and CUET-PG was announced well in advance this year, universities got enough time to adopt it. “It helped Universities to have a clear picture of when they can conduct the admission process. Universities have understood that CUET is planned well this time, and the academic calendar can return to the pre-COVID situation if they adopt it. In the coming years, we will see even more universities participating in CUET, making it a sizable national entrance test,” he said.
Among the other central universities that have adopted CUET-PG this year, are Jamia Millia Islamia, Mizoram University, Assam University, Visva-Bharati University, and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, among others.
Besides, 29 state-run, 66 deemed and private universities, and nine other government-run institutions are also participating in the exam this year. They included Delhi Technological University (DTU), Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University, GD Goenka University, Digital University Kerala, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), and the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirappalli (for MA degree in English language and literature).
DU Registrar Vikas Gupta said that the university decided to adopt CUET-PG this year on the basis of their experience of CUCET-UG last year. “Last year, we decided to adopt CUET-UG first. We wanted to adopt the changes in a staggered manner. After having a good experience with CUET-UG, the university decided to opt for it for the postgraduate admissions as well. Besides, NTA was already conducting entrance exams for postgraduate admissions for DU. So, it won’t make any difference for us,” he said.
However, some central universities, including Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and Allahabad University, are still not participating in the CUET-PG this year. A senior official at AMU, requesting anonymity said, “The academic council of the university is yet to make a decision on adopting CUET-PG.”
According to the NTA information bulletin, the exam will be conducted in English and Hindi and any other language specific to the concerned subject. The exam will be conducted on multiple days in two shifts per day, according to the agency.
“It will have multiple choice questions and each paper will have 100 questions, each carrying four marks. One mark will be deducted for each wrong answer,” the NTA said, adding that the universities will conduct their individual counselling on the basis of the scorecard provided by the agency.
