AICTE to implement NEET-like single engineering entrance test

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is planning to make reforms for engineering institute. The council is in talks about implementing a NEET-like mandatory and binding single entrance exam for admission to undergraduate BE courses for all engineering institutes.

The National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) was introduced recently for medical colleges has a lot of mixed reactions. Some says that it is so efficient that this type of test should be introduced for engineeering colleges also.

If there's only one, a common entrance for engineering aspirants as well at all-India level then the pressure of writing different exams with different syllabi will reduce. At present, there are all-India entrance examinations conducted by IITs, BITs and other deemed universities. But the disparities in syllabi of these examinations make the students reel under undue pressure. So, having one exam will provide a level of comfort and students will be able to perform better.

JEE-Main is the exam for which engineering aspirants have to appear to get admissions to the IITs, National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Information Technology and other centrally funded institutes. JEE-Main is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE said that various state funded colleges and private colleges consider JEE-Main score for admissions to their technical courses. "We are planning to make JEE-Main the single entrance test in the country. JEE-Main is based on the CBSE syllabus and different states are following different syllabi; so having a single entrance test for engineering is still in the planning stage,” he added.

Sahasrabudhe also talked about the action plan of AICTE for engineering colleges that lack infrastructure, student strength, faculty and equipment. He said that all institutes with flaw will be shut down.

"Some colleges approach us to shut due to poor student strength; we have eased this process also. Earlier, we were collecting Rs 3 lakh to approve closure of such colleges, now it's cut to Rs 50,000. As per the new rule, the intake capacity of seats in engineering colleges, which don't have accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), will not be increased, and AICTE will increase the intake capacity of engineering colleges which have NBA accreditation," Sahasrabudhe said. Currently, as less as 15% of colleges are NBA accredited.

The HRD ministry has taken up a new initiative, taking into account the degrading standards of technical education in India. No Indian engineering institute is ranked among the top 100 institutes in the world. Sahasrabudhe also informed that the MHRD will identify 10 good private institutes and 10 government institutes and these institutions will be provided with funds and freedom to expand and enhance their academic structure so they can be listed among the top 100 global institutes.

Number of faculties, students and parents believe that introducing NEET for engineering colleges too will help a lot. It will help reduce the financial burden that is put on parents as they have to fill number of forms, have to take their kid to number of centres for exam and the biggest one different coaching for different exams.