The common engineering entrance examination, which is supposed to bring all the engineering admissions across the country under a single umbrella, is scheduled to be introduced in 2013. In the first year the examination is said to cover only the centrally funded technical institutions.

Common entrance test to cover central institutions initially

The common engineering entrance examination will cover all the Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology along with some other deemed universities in the country as well. At present, there are about 150 engineering entrance examinations being conducted across the country to admit students to over 15 lakh engineering seats.

No clear announcements made so far

The Ministry for Human Resource and Development had conducted 3 meetings since September 2011 to arrive at a final format of the examination. The common test will be jointly hosted by the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). However the HRD ministry and the Education Minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal has not come out with any formal announcement on this. The minister said that the ministry is still working on it and further details will be made available in February.

Sources from the ministry who have attended the meeting say that in the maiden year the examination will cover engineering courses of the centrally funded institutions. According to sources, the examination will lead to the merger of the examinations IIT JEE and AIEEE. It is further said that all the discussions about the common test was made on the basis of the inputs by centrally funded institutions such as IITs, NITs , IIITs, and other institutions under the government control.

The objective behind common exam

The main objective behind a common entrance test for engineering is to bring down the psychological stress and financial burden on students who take many entrance examinations for securing admission in different engineering colleges. In addition to this, the ministry believes that this will help students to concentrate on their class 12 studies and examination rather than engage in private coaching for entrance tests.

Class 12 marks to be considered for selection

Back in September 2011, Mr. Kapil Sibal had said that the marks secured by the students in their 12th grade will also be considered in the engineering admission process. At present, in addition to the Indian Institute of Technology Joint exam and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination, all the states in the country have their own entrance examinations. Even the deemed universities in the country have separate entrance examinations.

States joining the common exam

The matter of the states joining the common entrance exam has not been discussed yet. The common entrance exam will follow a phased approach where it will cover the central institutions first and then thestates would join. The HRD ministry is planning to hold a meeting with education ministers from all the states on February 15. This is as a part of the ministry’s effort to bring the states too under the umbrella of the common entrance test.

Concerns of states regarding common entrance examination

There are many states that are not likely to agree to the common entrance exam. In the state of Tamil Nadu, majority of the students and their parents wish to pursue their engineering education in prestigious institutions in the state. One important reason is that the schools in Tamil Nadu do not encourage their students to consider national level entrance exams seriously. The schools in the state follow a curriculum which focuses on just learning and passing examinations than on creative or logical reasoning.

In addition to this, the parents do not want to send their children to distant places for their education. They prefer to send their children to colleges in the state, by paying capitation fees to secure admission in deemed universities. Another option most of the parents go for is to secure admission in self financing colleges under the management quota so that their children could stay with them.

The number of students in the state who take the JEE or the AIEEE has not increased substantially. The Tamil Nadu government had withdrawn the entrance exams to various professional courses from 2005-2006, in an attempt to encourage students from the rural areas to join professional education. But this move from the part of the government had taken away the competitive spirit from the students. Another issue with students from the state is that the students from rural areas are taught in Tamil medium and the national level entrance tests are conducted in English or Hindi. So it will be nearly impossible for such students to take such national level exams unless it is given in Tamil. This issue of local language will come up in the case of many other states as well.

The move welcomed by academicians

The HRD ministry’s plan to give weightage for class 12 marks is welcomed by most of the academicians. This is considered as a major reform in the engineering admission process. Students who focus just on entrance examinations go for entrance coaching and thus concentrate on mathematics, Physics and Chemistry alone. Other subjects such as social sciences and languages are neglected. They even move to places like Hyderabad or Kota in Rajasthan to prepare for entrance examinations and thus make schools education irrelevant. So the move to consider the class 12 marks is supposed to bring a change in the attitude of students towards school education rather than just focusing on few subjects to clear the entrance exam.

Requires extensive discussions with states

The common engineering entrance exam before being fully implemented in institutions across the country will require extensive discussions with the states to take into consideration their concerns. However the move is considered as a major reform by majority of the academicians across the country, as it will put an end to a system which gives more importance to entrance exams rather than basics.

Let us hope that the common entrance test will bring drastic changes in the engineering admission scenario in India and this would certainly improve the quality of the engineering graduates in India.