Question : ALL INDIA COMMON ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

(a) whether there is any provision to hold an All India common entrance examination for admission to the various institutes imparting engineering, vocational, computer, MBA and other technical education/training as per the recent decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the concrete steps taken by the Government so far to fully implement the above decision of the Hon’ble Court;

(d) the time by which it is likely to be implemented effectively; and

(e) the amount likely to be spent on its implementation?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. Vallabhbhai Kathiria)

(a): Yes, in pursuance of the Judgement on August 14, 2003 of the Supreme Court it has been decided that the admission to all professional Educational Institutions (both minority and non-minority) shall be held on the basis of merit determined through common entrance test(s).

(b) to (d): Accordingly all admissions for the seats to be filled up on all India basis to the under graduate programmes in Engineering, Architecture / Planning and Pharmacy in all Institutions in the country shall be made through an All India Engineering, Architecture / Planning and Pharmacy entrance examination (AIEEE). This exam is being conducted from 2002.

Admissions on all India basis to the Master of Computer Applications (MCA or equivalent) programmes in all Institutions in the country shall be made through an All India MCA Common Entrance Test (AIMCET) from the academic year 2004 - 2005.

For MBA / PGDM (or equivalent) programmes the admissions on all India basis in all Institutions in the country shall be made through a Common All India Test from the academic year 2005-2006. For the year 2004-2005 admissions shall be made through one of the five (5) National Entrance Tests, namely - Common Admission Test (CAT, conducted by IIMs), Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET, conducted by IITs), Management Aptitude Test (MAT, conducted by AIMA), AIMS Test for Management Admissions (ATMA, conducted by Association of Indian Management Schools) and Xavier Admission Test (XAT conducted by XLRI).

(e): The amount to be spent on these examinations will depend on the number of candidates, number of examination centres and various other factors.