Deemed Universities Agrees Kapil Sibal's JEE

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal's aim of a common entrance examination (JEE) for all undergraduate engineering programmes received a big boost with Deemed Universities agreeing to participating in the entrance examination.

Around 40 Deemed universities have agreed to admit students for their engineering programmes using the results of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main). These institutions will be admitting students on the basis of the results of the JEE (Main) and the class 12 board examination. The ministry had given the institutes a free hand in deciding the weightage to be given to the two components.

Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) holds out of JEE, which has argued that it has a well established entrance examination. Like IITs, BITS sees migrating to the new system as eroding its time tested method of selecting students.

The method that will be adopted by the participating deemed universities will give 40% weightage to board results and 60% to the JEE (Main). The 40% weightage to the board results will be given after the process of normalisation of marks of the state boards.

The 30 NITS have already agreed to migrate to new system. The decision by the 40 odd deemed universities with engineering programmes being offered at the undergraduate level to participate in the new system comes as a major boost to the ministry's efforts to reduce the multiplicity of entrance examination.

The Country's 42 central universities too are considering the proposal. While a majority of the central universities continue to have some doubts. The university Vice chancellors will take a final call after considering a policy document, which describes the proposed examination, the experience of the 7 universities which have a common examination system and addresses the concerns raised by the vice chancellors.

B P Sanjay, Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Tamil Nadu, is preparing the document.

The aim of the common entrance test has been mooted to reduce stress on students., who have to appear for multiple entrance examinations and to give greater relevance to the school education, especially the class 12 board examinations.

The proposed system has two components, a common eligibility test and school board examination results.

The HRD Ministry has stressed that the proposed system will not affect the autonomy of the institutions or states.