The Government of India has no plans to merge NEET-UG and JEE Main with the CUET in 2023. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the central government has no immediate plan to merge the three national-level undergraduate entrance tests.

The speculations around the merger of the MBBS entrance test, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main with Common University Entrance Test (CUET) have been put to rest by the Education Minister. Pradhan while speaking today has said that there is no immediate plan to merge NEET-UG and JEE Main with the CUET.

Giving a major relief to NEET and JEE aspirants, Pradhan said that there is a school of thought to merge the two exams with CUET, however, the government has not taken any decision in this regard till now. The three exams, NEET, JEE and CUET are all conducted by the NTA.

“Nobody should be worried, the way you have been studying and preparing till now, continue with that. There is no immediate plan to merge these exams with CUET,” Pradhan said.

Last month, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman said that there are plans to combine NEET and JEE Main with CUET in an effort to bring all entrance exams under a single umbrella. UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that the aim is to create a single entrance exam for all purposes.

He said that the move is aimed toward ‘one nation, one entrance exam’ in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The CUET launched for all the central universities in 2022, is likely to be held twice from 2023 onwards with an aim to eliminate the need to appear in multiple entrance exams.