Mumbai , April 30: Students may have to give two common entrance tests (CET) next year if private engineering colleges have their way. Members of the Maharashtra Association of Engineering Colleges (MAEC) have proposed conducting a separate entrance test apart from the MH-CET conducted by the state government.
Association members met state higher education minister Rajesh Tope earlier this week to discuss the proposal. Sources said that the government is not very open to the idea of a dual CET. “There is a Supreme Court order that allows private engineering colleges to have their own test.
Every world-class institute, be it Harvard or Brown, is autonomous,” said Kamal Kishore Kadam of the MGM group, a member of MAEC. “The state can monitor the functioning through the Shikshan Shulka Samiti (for free structure) and Pravesh Niyantran Samiti (for admissions).” In 2002, the SC allowed private professional colleges to conduct their own test as long as admissions were based on merit.
In 2005, the MAEC had conducted its own entrance test resulting in two exams but later reverted to the single state test. Private medical colleges already conduct their own admission test since 2004.
“I have asked them to give a presentation on the advantages of having a separate CET and the disadvantages of the present system,” Tope told.
—Agencies