UCG Proposes One Entrance Test For All. JEE, NEET Exams Likely To Be Merged Into CUET

NEET JEE Merger: If UGC's proposal is accepted, all three aforementioned examinations will be merged into one and marks of this national level test will be considered for all courses.

Government is considering to implement the proposal at the earliest possible. (Representative Image/ Getty)

University Grants Commission (UGC) chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar on Friday said that the government is now mulling at merging the national engineering and medical entrance exams into the existing Common University Entrance Test (CUET). If approved by Centre, NEET and JEE Main exams might be merged with the recently launched Common University Entrance Test or CUET, making it a one entrance test for all.

Currently, students willing to take up medical and dental courses have to appear for NEET exams, JEE for engineering courses and recently inducted CUET for admission to degree courses in science, humanities and commerce in various universities.

If UGC's proposal is accepted, all three aforementioned examinations will be merged into one and marks of this national level test will be considered for all courses. While speaking to TOI about the same, Kumar said that a committee has also been formed to look at the feasibility of merging the three national level examinations and reaching a consensus on the same.

"We have three major entrance examinations, that is NEET, JEE (Main) and CUET and a large number of students appearing for these entrances are common. And all these examinations are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Therefore, we are thinking why not use CUET scores alone for admission to multiple disciplines," he said.

The UGC chairman also informed that the government is considering to implement the proposal at the earliest possible, preferably by next year.

Launched earlier this year, CUET introduced for undergraduate admissions to as many as 90 universities including 45 central universities across the country. Nearly over 1.05 million sudents applied for CUET.   

The CUET UG examination, scheduled for August 4 across 17 states but postponed till August 12 due to administrative and technical reasons, will now be held from August 24.