A common national test for admission to engineering courses across the country that takes into account Class XII board marks will be introduced from 2013.

Under the new scheme, all aspirants will have to give two exams — JEE main and JEE advanced — to be held on the same day. The aspirant's set of scores will decide whether he or she will be eligible for admission to the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), centrally funded institutions like NITs (An earlier version of this story mistakenly described National Institutes of Technology, or NITs, as NIITs. We regret the error and thank our readers for pointing it out.) or IIITs or state-funded institutions.

For admission to IITs, students will be shortlisted on the basis of their cumulative score for Class XII and the main test (50% weightage each). The merit list for the elite institutes will be decided on the candidate's performance in the advanced test.

The weightage for admission to other institutions will vary. For centrally funded institutions which include NITs and IIITs, it will be 40% for Class XII board, 30% for the main test and another 30% for the advanced test: a format that IITs have also agreed to follow from 2015.

States will have to fix weightage for admission to institutions they govern. Class XII marks will be standardized on percentile basis by a formula worked out by the Indian Statistical Institute.

While the main test shall be multiple choice type paper, the nature and modalities of the JEE advanced test shall be determined by the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of the IITs.

For students who have appeared for Class XII board in 2012, the council has decided that they may be allowed to sit for the board exam again if they would like to improve their performance in order to benefit from the new format which factors in their performance at the school level. CBSE and state boards will be asked to make appropriate arrangements.

The decision, after two years of consultations and deliberations, was taken in a meeting with the joint councils of IITs, NITs and IIITs.

The All India IIT Federation submitted a dissent note at the meeting, continuing with their insistence that the exam be postponed till 2014 and Class XII be given a maximum of 40% weightage.

Elaborating on the decision, HRD minister Kapil Sibal admitted to "resistance'' from the IIT system, but said the council had secured an agreement by conceding their two main demands. As insisted by the IIT Senate and Federation, they will continue to have academic control over the exam including paper-setting, evaluation and preparation of merit list. Their demand that the main exam scores be used in addition to the board exam to shortlist eligible students was also accepted.

In turn, Sibal managed to get the IIT Council to agree to introduction of the common entrance test next year instead of 2014 as demanded by the IIT Senate and Federation. The minister told reporters that states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat had already agreed to adopt the new format. An education ministers' meeting on June 5 will be crucial to gauge interest among states who will have the freedom to decide their own weightages within the format.

Stressing that this will reduce mental and financial burden among aspirants, Sibal said the new system would ensure better results in schools and cut down dependence on coaching institutes.

Even as the process of selection to the IITs would be different then other institutes, Professor Sanjay Dhande, Director of IIT Kanpur said the counselling to IITs and other institutes will be done jointly and allotment of seats will be done together.

Sibal made it clear that JAB of the IIT system would have complete control on matters such as paper setting, evaluation and preparation of merit list over the advanced test while CBSE will provide administrative support for conduct of the examination.

For conduct of the main examination, an expanded joint admission board will be constituted including the NIT, other centrally funded institutes and state government representatives.

Source :TOI