CUET-UG in a hybrid mode can benefit students: UGC Chairman

New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar on Sunday said conducting CUET (UG) in a hybrid mode can benefit students, particularly those residing in rural areas.

The UGC chairman told IANS: "The idea behind conducting CUET-UG in hybrid mode is to provide more test centres nationwide so that candidates from rural areas can participate in the examination closer to their homes. This inclusivity promotes equal opportunities for all, ensuring that geographical constraints do not hinder students' educational aspirations in rural and remote areas."

Additionally, the hybrid mode acknowledges the importance of adapting to diverse testing environments," he said.

The UGC Chairman said that just as last year, NTA will announce the cities where the student has to write the test a week before the test date. Since this time, NTA is conducting CUET-UG in hybrid mode, we will have more centres in cities, and students will get the centres of their choice. For security reasons, students can download admit cards a few days before the test.

He said, "We are ensuring a break between the exams on the same day. This time gap provides students a mental and physical break, allowing them to transition between subjects and reduce stress. This year, instead of attempting 10 papers, students will be permitted to write a maximum of six papers. The rationale behind this decision is that only a tiny percentage of students have opted for ten papers in the last year's test.

"However, the scheduling of papers becomes very complex, leading to conducting the test over several days. Since students can write six papers in different combinations, such as 4 domain papers, 1 language paper, 1 general test paper or, 3 domain papers, 2 language papers and 1 general test paper, CUET-UG can be scheduled over fewer days, which is good for the students."

Ensuring a moderate difficulty level in an entrance test for university admission can contribute to reducing students' reliance on coaching centres. We want to keep the difficulty level of questions in CUET-UG moderate because students are more likely to perceive it as a fair and manageable challenge, he added.

Answering such reasonable difficulty level questions can improve students' intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, as they believe in their ability to prepare for and perform well on the test without undue external help. This positive feeling experienced by the students diffuses from one batch to another and reduces their dependency on coaching, he added.

The UGC Chairman said, "We take several measures to prevent cheating in every test centre such as rigorous identity verification processes, including photo identification and biometric scans to prevent impersonation, seating is arranged in a way that minimises communication between students, a sufficient number of invigilators are assigned to monitor the entire examination hall, random spot checks are conducted during the exam, unauthorised devices and materials are not allowed to be brought into the exam hall. We also analyse the answers and patterns to identify any unusual trends or similarities among answers that may indicate cheating and take appropriate steps."

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