Srinagar: Eleven thousand students are expected to appear in the maiden Common Aptitude Test for undergraduate and other courses at the Cluster University, Srinagar scheduled from Thursday.
The CUS this year decided to hold merit-based admissions to the UG programmes- which were otherwise made through open mode- on the basis of the merit obtained in the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) and the academic merit obtained by the candidate in class 12 examination.
The varsity has fixed a weightage of 60 percent and 40 percent for class 12 academic merit and the CAT respectively for selection to UG programmes.
Dean Academic Affairs at CUS, Prof M Y Peerzada told Kashmir Reader that 11, 000 odd students had applied for the maiden Common Aptitude Test for admission to different UG, 5-year Integrated, 3-year Honor’s, 3-year Professional and 3-year Integrated B Ed-M Ed courses offered at the CUS’s constituent colleges.
The test has been scheduled from February 20-28 in morning and afternoon shifts with the two shifts scheduled from 10:30 AM- 11:40 AM and 3:00 PM-4:10 PM respectively.
The selection to different courses will be made on the basis of merit and the choice of students for the courses, Prof Peerzada said adding that UG programmes accounted for major chunk of the seat intake.
Prof Peerzada said that, the varsity administration had set up examination centres in north and south Kashmir to facilitate aspirants from the respective regions.
He further informed that admissions to 3 of the new degree colleges in Kashmir- GDC Iddgah, GDC Alochi Bagh and GDC Hyderpora which had been affiliated with the Cluster University Srinagar, will also be made on the basis of the entrance test.
Pertinently, the Cluster University, Srinagar (CUS) has also put a cap on the intake capacity of students for undergraduate courses at its constituent colleges from the upcoming academic session in view of a surge in admissions over the years against a limited infrastructure.
Thevarsity will enroll only 6500 students for undergraduate programmes at its five constituent colleges in accordance with the existing infrastructure at the institutions.
Last year, the varsity ended up enrolling close to 8000 students in the UG first semester after the then state administration directed it to enroll additional students succeeding in the class 12 bi-annual examinations results.

Irshad Khan