Srinagar: In order to maintain a definite standard and quality in education, the Cluster University Srinagar (CUS) will hold test based admissions to undergraduate programmes from the upcoming academic session.
Although the varsity held a common screening test for admissions to integrated and professional programmes, the admission notification issued by the CUS administration recently said that selection of candidates for all UG programmes now on shall also be made on the basis of merit obtained in the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) and the academic merit obtained by the candidate in class 12 examination.
The varsity has set a weightage of 60 percent and 40 percent for class 12 academic merit and the CAT respectively for selection to UG programmes.
The CAT, it said, shall consist of 40 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) with 15 marks each for General Reasoning and General English and 10 marks for Mathematics.
While questions based on General Reasoning and General English shall be of class 11 and 12 level, those from the Mathematics section shall be of class 10 level, the CUS said.
The varsity further said that the candidates appearing in the CAT for integrated, Honor’s and professional programmes shall be considered for selection to UG courses in a similar way, that is, on the basis of merit obtained in the said CAT and the academic merit obtained in class 12 examination.
The decision to hold test based admissions for UG programmes from this year was taken at recent the Council meeting of the Cluster University, Srinagar aimed to maintain quality education, a top official at the varsity told Kashmir Reader.
“It was decided at the council meeting to maintain a definite intake in each programme in accordance with the teaching staff and physical infrastructure,” added the official.
The official hoped that the test based admissions to UG programmes will also help in even distribution of students among the constituent colleges of the CUS where the students, until last year, “would rush to a particular college for a desired programme”.

Irshad Khan