In yet another breakthrough in the efforts of Central Government to streamline entrance examinations, country’s premier technical training institutions, National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) have agreed to conduct single national level entrance examination for admissions from 2013-14. If implemented as per the proposed changes, admission to Under Graduate Engineering Programmes (BE or B.Tech) and Science Courses will be held through a national level entrance examination.
The proposal has been accepted by the directors of these premier technical institutes in a meeting chaired by Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. Another proposal to have a council for the IIITs was also accepted by the team of directors. The council to be set up in the lines of IITs and NITs will help to plan research activity, academic and other issued in a focused manner. The single entrance examination will be conducted as per the recommendations of T Ramasami Committee report. The Ramasami Committee report has already been accepted by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
The most important recommendation of the report is a mix of school and national level entrance test performance for entry to undergraduate courses. This will certainly reduce the multiplicity of entrance tests and students can also avoid over-dependency on coaching institutes. The Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) will have to take a final decision on these changes before the single national entrance came into force from 2013-14 academic session. IIITs are known for their quality of teaching, laboratories, placements and good infrastructure. This will be a good step by the Central Government towards reducing entrance exams burden on the students.