The admission process for centrally-funded engineering colleges is set to get stream-lined with single entrance examination starting from the 2013-14 academic year.

The councils of the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), International Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have agreed to give equal weightage to Class XII marks and entrance tests results.

The decisions were approved at a meeting presided by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Mr Kapil Sibal, on Monday.

“A serious problem with the present system is the neglect of the Class XII examination process while admitting students to engineering institutions. This has led to the almost complete disregard to the secondary school system and neglect of education imparted in schools impacting quality and access,” a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release said.

Following consultations spanning over two years, the councils have decided to divide the entrance exam into two parts – Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains and JEE-Advanced.

While students would be required to appear for both tests, they would need to clear the cut-off in the JEE-Mains to qualify for having their JEE-Advanced paper evaluated.

The combined marks of Class XII exam (50 per cent) and the JEE-Mains exam would be used by IITs to screen students before the JEE-Advanced papers are assessed.

However, the rankings for admissions would be based solely on the performance at the JEE-Advanced exam.

“The multiplicity of entrance examinations that a student intending to pursue a course in engineering has to appear for has been a cause of concern to society,” the release added.

The State Education Ministers are likely to meet on June 5 to consider whether or not they would like to join the common national test process.

aesha.datta@thehindu.co.in

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