Mumbai: The state govt will offer students two opportunities to appear for Common Entrance Tests (CETs) for all courses from this academic year, extending a facility that was introduced last year for engineering and MBA/MMS admissions. The move is aimed at giving students another chance to improve their scores for admissions. This will include nearly 20 CETs conducted by the state’s CET cell, including law three-year, law five-year, BMS/BBA, nursing, BEd, among others.The announcement was made by higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil on the sidelines of an event on quantum computing at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University (BATU) in Lonere on Monday. A three-day quantum technology training workshop and hackathon, organised under the Maharashtra Quantum Technology Mission, was inaugurated on Monday in the presence of the minister.The state CET cell conducted two CETs, in April and May, for engineering and MBA/MMS courses last year. An official from the CET cell said that two attempts were most utilised by physics-chemistry-mathematics (PCM) aspirants for admissions to engineering courses in the state. There were not many takers for MBA/MMS or PCB second attempt, he added. The facility, however, will now be extended to all courses for which the state conducts entrance examinations, said Patil.The CET Cell is also considering revising the eligibility criteria for engineering admission by increasing the minimum aggregate marks required in the class XII board examinations, instead of giving weightage to board examination scores, said the minister. At present, the minimum eligibility requirement is 45% aggregate marks for the general category. A committee looking into the possibility of giving weightage to class XII marks is yet to submit its report. “We intend to increase the benchmark, but no decision has been taken yet,” he said. If approved, the revised policy will be implemented from the 2028-29 academic year, giving students sufficient time to prepare for their board examinations and understand the revised admission requirements. A decision is likely to be announced by Jan, said an official.The state’s CET cell is working on an examination manual to standardise the conduct of CETs and streamline the examination process. The manual will lay down standard operating procedures (SOPs) covering various stages of the examination, including the conduct of tests, preparation of question banks and evaluation. The state is planning to increasingly hold the CET exams in its own colleges, instead of private centres, to increase efficiency and transparency and to ward off allegations of malpractices.
