New Delhi: The fourth phase of Central University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG 2022 will begin from Wednesday with nearly 3.6 lakh candidates expected to appear in the exam.
The exam for additional 11,000 candidates, who were to appear in the fourth phase from August 17-20, has been postponed to August 30 to accommodate their choice of city for centre, officials said.
According to the initial plan, all phases of the CUET-UG were scheduled to conclude on August 20. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which is responsible for conducting the exam, had later announced that all phases of the exam will conclude on August 28.
However, now the schedule has been further deferred and has been split into six phases.
"The exam for over 11,000 candidates, out of 3.72 lakh candidates, has been postponed to August 30 to accommodate their choice of city for exam centre. The NTA has increased the capacity at centres and also added more exam centres, besides making efforts to ensure the quality of the centres is enhanced," UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said.
The second phase of CUET was marred by glitches prompting the agency to cancel the exam at various centres.
Kumar had said the exam was cancelled at various centres following indications and reports of "sabotage". The exam in second and third phases was also cancelled at centres in Kerala and Itanagar due to rains and landslides.
The technical glitches encountered in the initial phases of CUET will not affect expansion plans for the crucial exam which includes a proposal to merge it with JEE and NEET, according Kumar.
He said the issues faced in the conduct of the test will be ironed out soon and the exam will be conducted twice a year.
Kumar had earlier said that in future the engineering entrance exam JEE and medical entrance exam NEET will also be merged with CUET.
"As per the NEP, the plan is to have a common entrance exam to reduce the burden on students of appearing in multiple entrances. However, we won't hurry up to introduce it as we need to plan well. It is a massive exercise and our focus is on planning and taking forward from the lessons we have learnt while conducting CUET," he said.