Thiruvananthapuram: The Union HRD Ministry is considering a proposal for single entrance examinations for all engineering colleges in the country from 2018 on the lines of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET).
According to sources, the next meeting of the All-India Council for Technical Education later this month is likely to discuss the proposal to address the concerns on the quality and transparency in engineering admissions. The states will be able to prescribe their admission criteria, apart from the score in the entrance test. The entrance score will, however, be the minimum eligibility criterion, the source said.
At present, the Central Board of Secondary Education conducts a Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to IITs, NITs and various other central institutions.
Educationist R.V.G. Menon told Deccan Chronicle that the proposal to conduct a common entrance examination would benefit the students as they would not have to write multiple tests. However, its quality has to be assessed after
it is introduced, Mr Menon said.
KPCC general secretary P.C. Vishnunath echoed the same sentiments. The NEET has ensured uniformity in the MBBS admissions. “However, we have to ascertain the views of the stakeholders,” Mr Vishnunath said.
Kochi-based urologist Dr N.K. Sanilkumar said that the AICTE was also contemplating an exit test for students who pass out of engineering colleges to assess their skills and employability. The Medical Council of India was also planning such a test for MBBS graduates.
There is no mechanism to know whether the students had an aptitude for professional courses, Dr Sanilkumar said. The CBSE conducts JEE for centre-funded institutions like IITs and NITs with more than 1.3 million students writing the examination every year. Besides the centre-funded institutes, the country has over 3,300 approved engineering colleges affiliated to various universities.
A number of states conduct their own engineering admission tests. Several private colleges and deemed universities also conduct their individual entrance examinations. Some states like Tamil Nadu have abolished the entrance examination saying that they favoured the urban students.
The engineering admissions in Tamil Nadu are now based only on the marks obtained in the class XII board examinations. With the state government deciding not to conduct separate entrance examinations for medical allied courses, the entrance examinations conducted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) are restricted to engineering entrance examinations in the next academic year.
The students for medical allied courses like agricultural, AYUSH and veterinary sciences would be admitted from the rank list published by the NEET. The Union Health Ministry had earlier decided to make NEET the only entrance examination for MBBS and BDS courses. It was in this background that the state decided to make NEET applicable for other medical allied courses.
