AIEEE Plans To Go Online

On the lines of the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) for management courses, the All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) plans to conduct the exam online. The government has set up a committee of National Institute of Technology (NIT) directors to explore the possibility of making the exam online, in addition to the regular pen and paper test. The committee will submit its report by January 2010.

Nearly 10 lakh students appeared for AIEEE for roughly 24,000 seats in engineering colleges across the country. This includes NITs, state engineering colleges, the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and deemed and central universities. The number of aspirants is expected to increase significantly over the next few years and the NIT council feels that an online test would facilitate the process.The committee will also deliberate on giving Class XII board exam marks weightage during the entrance exam. This came up after NIT directors said that the proliferation of coaching institutes was skewing the pattern of entrants into NITs.

However, some members of the council felt that an online test would not be feasible considering poor internet connectivity and the non-availability of computers in the rural areas. "All students are not familiar with computers. Hence, written tests should be a part of the system," director NIT Hamirpur IK Bhatt said.