Officials from the University Grants Commission (UGC) informed today, March 17, that over 200 universities have opted for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to Undergraduate (UG) programmes so far. Last year, the figures stood at 90.

"(The) Number of participating universities in CUET-UG crosses 200 today. It is now 206 including 33 state government universities," a senior UGC official said. The deadline for the application has been extended till March 30 as more universities are expected to select the test for admissions, as per a report by PTI.

The 206 universities include 44 central universities and 33 state universities. The latter include Barkatullah University, Bhopal, Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics, Karnataka, Cotton University, Guwahati, and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi. 

The CUET exam is scheduled to be conducted from May 21-31. The UG admission process is likely to be completed by July 2023 and the new academic session would begin on August 1.

CUET was introduced by the UGC in March 2022. Its debut edition was conducted in July last year and was marred by glitches, prompting the National Testing Agency (NTA) to cancel the exam at multiple centres. With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET is now the second-largest entrance exam in the country, surpassing the JEE Main's average registration of 9 lakh, as per PTI.