The Association of Indian Universities prefers that the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission in to undergraduate programmes to remain optional for colleges and universities in the country. The CUET is not yet made mandatory and going forward the AIU wants it to remain so. The CUET was introduced to ease the problem of students appearing in multiple examinations for seeking admission in to undergraduate programmes in various colleges and universities. With the introduction of CUET students can appear for one single entrance examination for the same.

Despite a large number of institutions across the nation signing up for CUET there seems to be an opposition for it in the Northeast region of the country. As of today, 206 universities, including 44 central universities and 33 state universities have opted for the CUET, up from 90 universities last year. In March last year, the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) had announced that admissions in all central universities would be conducted through the CUET and not on the basis on class 12 marks.

The first edition of CUET-UG was conducted in July 2022. It was marred by glitches which prompted the National Testing Agency (NTA) to cancel the exam at multiple centres. UGC is organizing for extra computers and extra centres as plan B so that in case there are any glitches, the candidates can be shifted there and the exam for a particular shift will not be cancelled.

As a part of their ground work and preparation, UGC has categorized the centres into three categories – A, B and C. Centres that faced problems last year are categorized as “C” and they will not be utilized this year. Centres that need more handholding and where more ground work and infrastructure are required are categorized as “B”. Category “A” centres are those that worked fine and do not need any further work on them.