By Taruna Gautam
Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is an all-India examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for students seeking admission to different programs of participating Central Universities. It provides a single-window opportunity for the students to get admission to these participating Universities across the country, thereby making admissions more streamlined, and student-friendly, and eliminating entrance exams of varying difficulty levels
CUET provides a common platform and also equal opportunities for the candidates across the country, more so to those from rural and remote areas. This will open a pathway to join Central and other Universities through a wider reach. Earlier examinations were conducted by the Central Universities at their level due to which many students could not apply to several universities due to irregular timing and high application fees. Also, for a single course, they had to give multiple examinations. But now, CUET has solved all these problems.
CUET has a merit in making the admissions process more equitable. It provides equal opportunities to showcase their academic prowess. Until now, college decisions used to be made on the sole basis of 12th grade scores. As a direct result of this system of admissions, many students would fail to get into their dream universities. The CUET makes the process more holistic, giving every student an equal chance to get into their dream university.
Also, CUET has a focus on critical thinking. Earlier the evaluation was limited to the syllabus of the subjects offered in high school curriculums. Students with an inclination towards a certain subject would be penalized for not performing well across a variety of different topics. The CUET features a combination of aptitude and subject ability tests, allowing students to select any subject considering their learnings from high school and their main areas of interest. Simultaneously, this could also prove to be a pedagogical triumph by effectively removing the practice of rote learning among students. It is more objective in terms of transition from subjective analysis to objective one.
Students can now simply concentrate on the subject of their expertise without stressing upon the cutoff. The CUET is a democratic process and empowers the students to focus on their preferred subject and gain admission to the college or university of their dreams. This way it will support the students towards fulfilling their aspirations to join a desired University by appearing in entrance tests in the subjects of their choice and not the performance of class twelve.
The author is Vice-Chancellor of IILM University. Views are personal.
