Speaking at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2025, presented by Sastra University, Prof Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), reiterated the need for a single national level entrance examination to inspire public confidence in its objectivity and transparency. Prof Jagadesh Kumar made this observation in the context of the “multitude of examinations” in India, such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, Common University Entrance Test (CUET), and University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), the majority of which are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) following its establishment in 2018. When session chair Prof S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of SASTRA University, drew attention to the challenges of conducting national level entrance examinations in a session titled “Testing Times: Rebuilding Exams in India”, the UGC Chairman noted that the number of students appearing for these examinations, which was just over 60 lakh in 2018, has now grown to 1.2 crore. He predicted that the scale of these national level examinations will increase manifold due to rising competition, adding that the challenge lies in making the examinations robust, error-free and student friendly.An exam for allAnswering a question by Prof Vaidhyasubramanian on the need for multiple national level entrance examinations for a limited number of seats, Prof Jagadesh Kumar termed the act of conducting a national level exam — or any exam — a “logistical nightmare”. He emphasised the need to strengthen the NTA, so that every university can use the tests it conducts for their admissions. Explaining how it could work, the UGC Chairman said that students could choose the appropriate subject based on the course, be it engineering, medicine, general sciences, social sciences or humanities using technology. He added that 280 Indian universities use the CUET as part of their admissions process, with more joining. Prof Vaidhyasubramanian, terming these national level entrance exams as “national assets”, proposed mandating a single exam for all universities and states, allowing them to customise it as per their requirements. In response, Prof Jagadesh Kumar stated that an ideal testing model would have a huge question bank, with a “computer-based adaptive testing mechanism.” He added that the difficulty levels of today’s standardised tests is making students leave several questions unanswered. “Are we testing their ignorance, or are we testing what they actually learned,” he asked. Instead, he suggested that each student could receive a different question paper, with the difficulty levels changing based on the the accuracy of their answers. Through this model, examiners can assess how each student responds to different levels of difficulty and understand their aptitude for the course, and students can answer more questions.
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