To ease exam stress among students, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has rolled out a new admission policy that gives weightage to both the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores and Class 12 or graduation marks.
As reported by News18, the shift is aimed at making the process more inclusive while filling up vacant seats.
For the 2025 academic session, BHU will now consider not just CUET scores but also Class 12 or graduation marks while filling vacant seats in its undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes. This change comes as a relief to students who may not have scored well in CUET but hold strong academic records.
Seats yet to be filled
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has emphasised that leaving seats unfilled harms both students and institutions. With infrastructure and faculty already in place, vacant seats amount to wasted resources. Hence, UGC has allowed universities, including BHU, to fill such vacancies based on merit.
Currently, BHU has around 10,000 PG seats, of which nearly 1,200 remain vacant. Out of 9,200 UG seats, a significant number are also yet to be filled. Under the new policy, these will be allotted according to academic performance if not filled through the CUET ranks.
UGC Secretary Manish R. Joshi clarified that CUET scores will remain mandatory for future admissions, but for this year, merit-based admissions are permitted to ensure seats do not go to waste.
