Regulations related to Entrance Examinations in India

India has large number of engineering & medical colleges, MBA and law schools and fashion institutes; hence, the decision to select one college is extremely crucial for a student. In order to let them make an informed decision, educational institutes conduct various entrance exams to select the best candidate. Entrance Exams allow students to get admission into various undergraduate, post graduate, PhD and professional degree courses. After clearing the entrance examination a student can earn a specialized degree from the stream selected by him/her. With the enhancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), central and state governments and private colleges conduct entrance exams mainly via online format. The initiatives undertaken by the government have made the system easily accessible and transparent for students and parents. All procedures are now just a click away. From online entrance forms to online modes of fee payment, all processes are helping students to take the competitive tests in the easiest way. There are several entrance exams conducted in India such as AIEEE, CLAT, JEE, GATE, BCECE, LSAT, and many more. Entrance Test Admission forms for these exams are issued by the office of the Controller of Examinations (Government of India) usually from the month of November. National and state-level exams are conducted in common test centres throughout India from April-June. Some exams are conducted online while others on OMR sheets. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) disseminates results using multiple channels such as Internet, Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), E-mail and SMS (Short Message Service) to make the results readily accessible to students. Admissions are done according to merit/score/ranking in the Entrance Tests along with the eligibility requirements that are mentioned in entrance application forms. From time to time, National HRD ministry and national educational councils amend the rules and regulations related to various exams. For example, in the year 2010, the Medical Council of India amended the regulations on Graduate Medical Education 1997 proposed to conduct National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS Course. Sometimes, irregularities during the conduct of exams result in either cancellation or re-conducting the exam. For example, the Supreme Court has stayed the declaration of the results of the All-India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) because a Special Investigation Team has found that the paper was leaked by top sources. The fate of the result and exam is yet to be decided on June 10, 2015. Moreover, admission rules and criteria differ from one institution to another. So students are advised to check the admission regulations first and then take competitive examinations based on their interested streams and colleges.