IIT-K okays common entrance exam as ‘interim step’

On June 23,the Joint Admission Board had come up with new recommendations for a common entrance test to all centrally-funded institutes of India,which were adopted by the IIT Council in New Delhi on June 27,ending the deadlock between IITs and the government over the issue of a single entrance test to these institutes. The new recommendations entailed a two tier examination system wherein the students seeking admission to IITs had to take a separate examination – JEE Advance – after clearing the common entrance examination – JEE Main – for all centrally-funded institutions.

As per the recommendations of the JAB,top 1.5 lakh students of JEE Main would be eligible to take JEE Advance Test. However,the IIT-K Senate has recommended that the decision on the number of students to be short-listed for IIT JEE 2013 should be based on “available data and the structure and nature of IIT JEE 2013.”

Further,the new formula also recommended that only those students in the top 20 percentile category of each school board will be eligible to appear for JEE Advance examination. The IIT – Kanpur Senate has,however,recommended that “in the interest of fairness” the eligibility condition adopted for JEE 2012 should be retained for students who have passed their Board Examination in 2012 and are taking JEE 2013.

The Senate also recommended that the JAB should constitute a separate committee consisting of representatives nominated by Senates of the IITs to advise JAB on the nature of the IIT entrance test and the process of admission. The senate of IIT Kanpur had earlier decided to conduct its own entrance examination before the JAB came up with new recommendations in June.