In a bid to "reduce the burden of taking multiple exams" on students, the Academic Council of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will now conduct admissions to various courses for the academic year 2022-23 via the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET). The varsity had earlier taken the decision to get on board with the CUCET (aka Common Universities Entrance Test (CUET) back in March 2021, in line with the National Education Policy, which recommended a common entrance test for all central universities across the country.
The decision was ratified at the 159th Academic Council meeting of the varsity, which was conducted on Wednesday, January 12, 2022. In a press note, JNU said that the council had "overwhelmingly endorsed" the shift from the JNU Entrance Exam to the CUCET, and will admit students via the common entrance test whenever it is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) this year.
The decision has drawn flak from certain quarters within the JNU faculty and students. A group of 111 faculty members across JNU had issued a statement on Tuesday, lambasting the administration for rushing the decision without consulting with the faculty in depth. The agenda for the meeting was circulated only on the evening of January 10, and the faculty members claim that this gave them barely any time to discuss and deliberate on the issue.
Accusing the council for passing the matter without "any discussion whatsoever", JNU Professor Ayesha Kidwai accused the JNU Vice-Chancellor Dr Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar of adopting his "usual strategem of stealth". She went on to say that the unique nature of some of the programmes offered by the varsity make it impossible for them to be up for evaluation along with varsities from across the country. "Will that mean that these programmes will be wound up? Are we being pushed to follow the other UGC letter that asks universities to offload degree programmes that the UGC deems useless?" she asked in the Facebook post.
For its part, the JNU Academic Council has 'deplored' the 'misinformation spread by the faculty' in this regard, and has said that the decision will create a level playing field for the students.
CUCET had been in the pipeline for the previous academic year (2021-22) as well, but had been put on hold given the COVID-19 pandemic.
