MHRD refutes reports of GATE being made compulsory

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 5: The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has refuted reports which stated that the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is going to make the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) examination compulsory for acquiring B.Tech/B.E. degree.

The Ministry has clarified that the reports published in some of the newspapers is incorrect. R. Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, MHRD said on Twitter, “This is to clarify that the news published in The New Indian Express that ‘GATE exam is being made compulsory for all engineering students’ is incorrect.”

There were reports that the AICTE is likely to make GATE ‘compulsory’ for engineering students as an exit exam. As per the report, from the next academic session 2019-20, students pursuing technical courses might have to write a mandatory ‘Exit Exam’ and will have to clear it to get their degree.

Careers360 spoke to a senior AICTE official on condition of anonymity who said, “During the recent meeting of the Council there was discussion on having a compulsory exit exam for engineering, to improve the quality of engineering graduates but no decision was taken.”

GATE is a national level entrance exam conducted  by IITs for all the students wishing to pursue M.Tech in IITs, NITs, GFTIs and major universities across the country. A number of Public Sector Units recruit candidates on the basis of their GATE scores.