New Delhi: The six Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have put forth a rider to a proposal from the human resource development (HRD) ministry to hold a common entrance examination for admissions to all technical institutions in the country from January next year.

After a senate meeting of the country's premier technology training institutes recently, it was unanimously decided that the IITs would have to lay down the standards for admission by setting the examination paper.

The senate felt that the IITs needed to be involved in the selection and screening process in order to ensure the quality of admissions. "We don't want to compromise on the standard of students coming to study in the IITs," the registrar of IIT- Delhi, Col. A.S. Malhotra, said.

Accordingly, the senate has forwarded its recommendations to HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi for approval. An official of the HRD Ministry said the issue was under discussion, but added: "It is not a question of quality, but of merit and preference. They have to pick out the best of the lot, and that is based on subjective evaluation."

As of now, the official said, the common examination will be held on the lines suggested by Education Consultants India Ltd. (EdCIL) - an autonomous body mandated by the ministry to organize the test, since it has the requisite infrastructure.

The test, the official said, would consist of objective-type questions, and evaluations would be based on percentiles.

The common entrance test, under the "National Education System of Testing," was proposed with a view to "reduce the trauma of students and parents," and streamline the entrance examination process for admission to professional courses in the country.

The exam will cover admissions to as many as 1,147 institutions that offer degree courses in engineering, technology, pharmacy, hotel management and architecture. Many state and Central institutions have agreed to join the system from the next session.

According to the HRD Ministry, the common test is aimed at avoiding duplication and facilitating optimum utilization of resources.

Notably, the test will include admission to the IITs, the Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Indian School of Mines, the School of Planning and Architecture, and various regional engineering colleges.

The IITs, which have produced about 110,000 graduates since the 1960s, have been admitting only the top two per cent of India's student population and they want their premier position to be maintained.

Admission to degree programs in the IITs are made through a joint entrance examination (JEE) that is common to their six centers -- Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Mumbai -- as also the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, and Varanasi-based Benares Hindu University's technology-related courses.

The JEE is conducted in two stages -- a preliminary screening test and a main examination -- and the tests are organized in turns by each IIT.

"More than 100,000 students appear for the first round, and around 10,000 to 15,000, who qualify, sit for the next. We want the scope of the qualifying round enlarged to all other technical institutions in the country," Col. Malhotra said.

IIT has recommended that the results of the first round of JEE be made available to regional engineering colleges (RECs) and other state government colleges so that the remaining candidates can go for a second exam in these institutes.

"Instead of 100,000-odd students, we could have around 500,000 candidates for the screening test", said the registrar. The institute is counting on the Human Resource Development Ministry accepting its proposal.

Col. Malhotra also said that even if the common entrance exam were to be introduced from the next academic session, it would actually begin only from 2002. "It is likely to take the government a whole year to take a decision and then prepare infrastructure for the new system."

India Abroad News Service