HRD announces combined JEE from 2013

By Ruchi Shrimali

On May 28, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry and the Councils of Central Government-funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs) had the final meeting to decide the fate of the proposed combined Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) as the single engineering entrance exam in India. As per the decision, the exam will replace IIT JEE and AIEEE from next year. 

CFTIs include:

• 15 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 
• Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), which has recently gained the IIT status (Know more), 
• Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, 
• 30 National Institutes of Technology (NITs),
• 5 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), 
• Architecture schools, and 
• Other leading engineering colleges. 

About 16 lakh students appear for various engineering exams to get entry into these schools..

The meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which includes the state education ministers, will be held on June 5. Once the combined JEE gets approved there, it will also replace the state-level engineering entrance exams. According to the present conjectures, Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra are ready to accept Combined JEE 2013 in its present format. Other states will clarify their stands in the meeting.

Exam format of JEE 2013

The HRD ministry and engineering colleges have reached a compromise on a common entrance exam. Mint’s Prashant K. Nanda looks at the impact of the move

JEE will be conducted in two steps:

• JEE Main Exam to test the students on comprehension, critical thinking and logical reasoning, and
• JEE Advanced Exam to test the problem-solving abilities of candidates in the basic science subjects. Read more

JEE Main exam and JEE Advanced Exam will be conducted on the same day. 

The IITs had been insistent on a subjective JEE Advanced Exam and demanded that its format and execution should be under the control of Joint Admission Board (JAB) of the IITs. HRD Ministry accepted their demands and it has been decided that the JAB will completely administer the JEE Advanced Exam with technical help from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). 

However, HRD Ministry refused to postpone the test until 2014. Conducting a subjective test will require many resources for evaluation. IITs are already facing a faculty crunch of 20 – 30 per cent. Hence, JAB has decided that it may conduct multiple-choice Advanced Exam next year, albeit one which will be more difficult and have not just four but many more options to test students more thoroughly.

New JEE Ranking system for CFTIs, and for IITs

For CFTIs

All the CFTIs, except IITs, will select students on the basis of students’ scores in three set of exams – Class XII board exam, JEE Main Exam and JEE Advanced Exam. While drawing the merit list for CFTIs, weightage to the scores of these three tests will be given in the following manner:

For IITs

IITs were opposed to the idea of using Class XII board exam scores directly in the selection process. According to the IITs, Bengal and rural students will face the heat if Class XII board marks are used for selection. 

If necessary, they were ready to use Class XII board marks as a filter to allow students to appear for the main exam. Students who have passed Class XII this year will be allowed to appear for the improvement exams next year, while continuing their college studies to prevent losing a year. Read more

For IITs, it has been decided that:

• A ranking list will be drawn on the basis of Class XII board marks and marks of JEE Main exam will be used as a filter, with equal weightage given to both. This will be used to filter students.
• Advanced exam scores of Top 50,000 students in the ranking list will be considered to get admission in IITs.

Note: IITs have promised to use the system proposed for all CFTIs by 2015.

The students, who will not be able to make it to the IITs, will stand a chance to get admission in other CFTIs.

Also read: IITs and HRD reached a compromise on JEE 2013