Technical glitches in CUET not a setback, won't hurry up plan to merge with JEE, NEET: UGC chairman

New Delhi: The technical glitches encountered in the initial phases of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) will not affect expansion plans for the crucial exam which includes a proposal to merge it with JEE and NEET, according to UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar.

"The technical glitches in initial phases of CUET-UG are not setbacks but lessons. They will be ironed out in the near future and will in no way deter scaling up or expansion plans for the crucial exam," he told PTI in an interview.

Kumar had earlier said that in future the engineering entrance exam JEE and medical entrance exam NEET will also be merged with CUET.

"As per the NEP, the plan is to have a common entrance exam to reduce the burden on students of appearing in multiple entrances. However, we won't hurry up to introduce it as we need to plan well. It is a massive exercise," he said. Asked when the merger is expected, Kumar said the modalities are yet to be worked out.

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"An expert committee will be set up by end of this month. It will study all important entrance exams being conducted in the country as well as abroad. If we have to introduce the exam next year, the preparation has to start now considering the massive exercise and the different disciplines involved.

"There also has to be a consensus among stakeholders and the two main issues we need to address is the syllabus as well as the difficulty level as each discipline has its own peculiarities," he said.

The debut edition of CUET-UG began in July and has been marred with glitches prompting the National Testing Agency (NTA) to cancel exams at multiple centres. While several students were informed about cancellation a night before the exam, many of them were turned away from centres citing cancellations.

Kumar had said the exam at certain centres have been cancelled following reports of "sabotage". The fourth phase of the CUET-UG is set to begin on Wednesday. With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities, is now the second biggest entrance exam in the country, surpassing JEE-Main’s average registration of nine lakh. NEET-UG is the biggest entrance test in India with an average of 18 lakh registrations.