AIEEE

Programme of Action (PoA), 1992 under the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 envisaged conduct of a common entrance examination on all India basis for admission to professional and technical programmes in the country.  For admission to engineering, pharmacy and architecture/planning programmes, Government of India vide Resolution dated 18th October 2001 has laid down a Three – Exam Scheme (JEE and AIEEE at the National Level and the State Level Engineering Entrance Examinations (SLEEE) for State Level Institutions – with an option to join AIEEE). This takes care of varying admission standards in these programmes and helps in maintenance of professional standards. This also solves problems of overlaps and reduces physical, mental and financial burden on students and their parents due to multiplicity of entrance examinations.

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India is a country of 1,300 engineering colleges, whose annual student intake at the Under Graduate level is 4,00,000. Around 85 per cent of these colleges are under private management. Multiple entrance examinations take a heavy toll, as students have to devote considerable amount of time while preparing for these examinations, whose pattern differs from state to state. This led the Government of India to start the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) in 2002 on the lines of All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The chairman of Central Counselling Board, AIEEE and principal, Delhi College of Engineering P B Sharma said: "The AIEEE is a small step towards the conduct of a common engineering entrance examination in the country. Ideally, the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) could have emerged as the single-entrance examination for admissions to different engineering colleges across the country, but it's not a feasible idea, as we have a system where the course curriculum significantly varies from state to state. Therefore, a single entrance examination for the entire country still remains a desired goal."

This year, AIEEE was conducted throughout the country with 4.3 lakh students appearing in the examination conducted by the CBSE. All 18 National Institute of Technology (NIT), three Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) and number of deemed universities, centrally-funded institutions totalling 43 participated in the central counselling for admissions to the engineering, pharmacy and architecture programmes in different colleges. "The AIEEE for 2005 is going to take place on May 8. Further details are awaited," added Sharma.

Out of 4.3 lakh students who appeared for AIEEE this year, 46,538 candidates were found to be eligible for central counselling. "The counselling was conducted online throughout the country employing National Informatics Centre Network, which led to the maintaining of total transparency in the entire selection process. There were 11,476 seats including 11,012 in engineering, 121 in pharmacy and 343 in architecture programmes available in 18 NITs, three IIITs, deemed universities and centrally-funded institutions. Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Uttaranchal too used AIEEE ranks to fill the all-India quota in engineering colleges in respective states. This enabled AIEEE to emerge as a common entrance test for admissions to engineering programmes in these states," remarked Sharma.

Do you foresee more states joining the AIEEE bandwagon to in the near future? "As AIEEE becomes more and more acceptable, there is a possibility that more states will start using AIEEE ranks to fill the all-India quota in various state engineering colleges. This way the number of engineering entrance examinations could be reduced to just three, which includes IIT-JEE, AIEEE and state-level engineering entrance examinations. This could prove to be a blessing in disguise for Lakhs of students, who spent considerable amount of time while preparing for numerous engineering entrance examinations every year," exclaimed Sharma.

Source: TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2004 12:00:01 AM]