On Friday, it decided to become a part of the NEET- National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for admission in medical and dental colleges in the country from 2013. This also means standard 12 students will not have to appear for multiple entrance exam from next year. So far, students had to appear in the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET), All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE), IIT Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE), All India Pre-Medical Test (PMT) and many others.
Out of the 75,000 students who appeared in 'A' group standard 12 (Science) exams last year 60,000 appeared for both AIEEE and IIT JEE. The Principal secretary of Education said that "JEE will also be offered in Gujarat, besides English and Hindi. Common national tests are in the best interest of local students as they file their competitive skills and give them greater opportunity to secure admission in colleges across India".
Separate national and state merit lists will be prepared for NEET and JEE. Around 85% of seats will be reserved for local students in the state colleges, and the rest from the All-India quota. For medical colleges, Gujarat has also secured an assurance that the NEET merit will be lowered for local students if the seats remain vacant in the state quota.
A total number of 10,678 seats in engineering and Pharmacy colleges have remained vacant after admissions for students who cleared supplementary exams which got completed on Saturday.
The issue of vacant seats will be referred to the director of technical education to advise whether the seats should be given to colleges or if reshuffling is to be carried out; said the officials.