CUET exam once a year; rationalise multitude of subject streams, expert panel suggests

NEW DELHI: The Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan clarified that the Common University Entrance Test (CUET 2025) will be conducted only once a year, while announcing that the National Testing Agency (NTA) will only hold college entrance exams. The education ministry today notified the recommendation submitted by the high-level committee for reformation of national common entrance testing in India.

An expert panel, set up by the ministry of education earlier this year, has suggested the multitude of subject streams for CUET admission tests be rationalised as a compact cluster of related subject streams.

Briefing on the transformations in our educational landscape, Dharmendra Pradhan said: “CUET UG will continue to be conducted once a year. The government is looking at moving to computer adaptive test and technology-driven entrance exams in the near future."

Also read NTA to not hold recruitment exams; will be restructured in 2025: Dharmendra Pradhan

A normalisation process is integral for every entrance exam conducted in multiple sessions. “This is a statistical process. The parameters and methodology of normalisation should be well-defined, established, documented and communicated transparently for each test,” the high-level committee, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan, in its report to the education ministry said.

Moreover, it also recommended multi-stage testing for NEET-UG. “An acceptable framework with thresholds and test objectives of scoring/ ranking at each stage, and number of attempts etc. may be evolved,” it added.

The CUET exam 2024 was held in hybrid mode this year to encourage participation of youth from interior and rural areas. However, due to administrative reasons and other reasons, the CUET exam rescheduled in some exam centres. However, the CUET is likely to shift back to computer-based test (CBT) from next academic year onwards. In this regard, the University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar also hinted that the UG entrance exam will undergo changes.