CUCET for all central universities from 2022; NTA to conduct: Education Ministry

NEW DELHI: Admission to undergraduate programmes in all central universities will be through the Central University Common Admission Test (CUCET) from 2022 and the National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct it, the education ministry has confirmed via its year-end review of the higher education department.

The ministry's review report further says that by the end of 2021, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has permitted 19 engineering colleges to conduct BTech courses in six Indian languages across 10 states.

Also read | Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) to be held in multiple languages

Plus, the Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA) is back in the picture and according to the report, the non-banking finance company which offer infrastructure loans to public institutions for expansion will "fund projects to the tune of Rs 1,00,000 crore" by 2022. Incidentally, in the Union Budget 2021, HEFA saw a nominal outlay, just Rs 1 crore. By November 2021, projects worth Rs 43,115 crore had been approved; loans worth Rs 32,807.06 crore had been sanctioned but only Rs 12,892.98 crore -- 39.3% -- had been actually disbursed.

AICTE also established an AICTE internship portal which now lists 12.35 lakh internships and has 73 lakh students and 38,650 employers registered on it.

Also read | Engineering in local languages, mother tongue to be instrument of empowerment: Pradhan

A knowledge cell has been established in the Ministry of Education and in the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) for preserving and promoting the Indian knowledge system, arts and culture.