Class Of 2023

With students liberated from the tyranny of marks determining what subject they study, the choice of college is no longer limited to its overall reputation, but also in its strength in individual subjects

- KAUSHIK DEKA

IT came without much fanfare, for a move destined to radically transform the college admission process in the country. The Covid-19 pandemic had already brought about another revolution the leapfrogging to online education. In the post-Covid world, the University Grants Commission, the apex governing body of higher education institutes in the country, ushered in a change called CUET in the summer of 2022. An acronym for the Common University Entrance Test, it sought to test the conceptual learning of a student and their ability to think logically rather than the rote output that got them the marks but not the understanding. Conducted by the National Testing Agency, the outcome of the selection test would become the criteria for admission to undergraduate courses in central universities and other participating institutions.

The shadow of Covid coloured the first edition of CUET, which delayed the session last year. Lessons learnt, students across the country are appearing for CUET again this year, which will help them select courses and colleges that will determine the trajectory of their future. CUET's introduction brings the curtain down on the system of cut-offs that had reached absurd proportions in recent years. Students will no longer be held hostage to their performance in the Class 12 board examinations. CUET provides them a level-playing field, so that students from boards that have a more lenient system of marking do not score an advantage over others. Instead, everyone takes a uniform examination and gets an equal shot at choosing the college and course of their choice. Nor do students and their parents have to camp in big cities for the summer, when college admissions take place, uncertain of whether they will get admission in the course and college they have applied for. Students can appear for the entrance test from their hometown and travel only when admission in a particular college is confirmed.