Number of CUET-UG centres to triple this year

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has increased the number of centres for the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate admissions or CUET-UG, which will be in hybrid format starting this academic session, by three times to 2,415, officials said on Friday.

The third edition of the country’s largest test, which is set to begin from May 15, will be conducted in hybrid mode for the first time. While the test for 15 subjects with the most registrations will be conducted in offline mode, the rest will be computerbased. Each test will be conducted in one shift or one day unlike the last two editions of CUET when tests in the same subject were conducted over different days in different shifts. 1.34 million students have registered for the exam this year.

“Using a combination of offline testing for papers with higher registrations and computer-based testing for smaller ones, we have expanded our test centre options significantly. In 2023, we had 821 centres, but this year that number has increased to around 2,415 to ensure students have ample choices when selecting their test centres,”said chairperson of University Grants Commission (UGC) M Jagadesh Kumar, who is monitoring CUET along with NTA.

This was also a motive behind allowing for pen and paper tests for popular subjects – they can be conducted anywhere, obviating difficulties associated with travel from rural areas. The number of cities where it will be held has also risen 380 from 308 last year.