The government of India is now planning to conduct a single engineering entrance exam for admission in all government engineering colleges, private colleges in all over India.The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) which is now conducted by the CBSE for admission in engineering colleges can be ended from the year 2018. This step is being taken as the government aims to bring transparency in the process of engineering admission, and to control the practice of extracting a heavy capitation fee from students in some private colleges
This is similar to the NEET exam which replaced AIPMT last year and is now the only medical entrance exam in the country after 12th apart from JIPMER and AIIMS MBBS.
Reason for the decision to conduct Single Engineering Exam
“The aim is to make the process more transparent, standardised, and free of corruption and commercialisation,” a government official said. In India, more than 3300 engineering colleges approved by the government universities with an annual intake of above 1.6 million students but total half of the seats are filled.
- Bring Transparency in admission process
- Stop Commercialisation of Education
- Relief to students from filling multiple application forms
- Solve the problem of Vacant seats in engineering colleges
- Improve Quality of Engineers
Currently, many colleges conduct graduation level entrance examination for admission in various engineering colleges, and the CBSE conducts the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains for the purpose of admission in engineering colleges funded by the Government of India, and more than 1.3 million students appear in JEE examination every year. Only the candidates who have secured top rank are eligible to write the JEE-Advanced for admission in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Admission in IITs Under New System
In the new system, the candidates who want to get admission in the IITs will have to qualify in the nationwide common entrance test with high marks and take the JEE-Advanced. Apart from this examination maximum engineering colleges in India conduct their test based on marks obtained by the candidates in class 12.
Several private colleges have their own entrance examinations. But “some of them, which are self-financed, charge high fees or sell seats in the name of management or NRI quota at a premium”, an official source said. Maximum private colleges now become a magnet for mostly middle-class families in India and the making of money, some of the private engineering colleges take admission without any essential talent and aptitude for engineering which is affecting the overall engineering quality.
This proposal is being viewed as an attempt to streamline the dysfunctional education system. The council will be responsible for regulating the examination and will also be responsible for resolving the issues such as the number of times the examination would be conducted in a year, and the minimum qualification marks are yet to be worked out.
Admission in State Level Engineering Colleges
“States would be invited to join the counselling process to fill the seats in colleges under their jurisdiction and the states will be able to prescribe their admission criteria, apart from the score in the entrance test. The JEE score will, however, be the minimum eligibility criteria” the source said.
As the government has successfully replaced the medical exam so there is a strong possibility that this proposal would soon become a reality
