Odisha: Common PG entrance test to be held in autonomous colleges along with universities

BHUBANESWAR: The higher education department on Wednesday conducted a meeting of representatives of universities and senior government officials to discuss on preparation of common PG entrance test ( CPET-2020 ) this year.


The department will hold CPET between September 30 and October 7 for admission into PG courses in state public universities and autonomous colleges.

The department will conduct this test for the first time in the state.

In the meeting, department secretary Saswat Mishra and Odisha state higher education council vice chairman Asoka Kumar Das discussed in detail about the preparation of holding the entrance test. Principals of autonomous colleges, PG Council chairman and controller of examination of the state universities presented their view on this.

The department had initially planned to hold the entrance examination in universities, but now it has decided to conduct this test in government autonomous colleges too. Principals of autonomous colleges were asked to make preparation for the CPET, said Das.

He said they have also discussed about logistics of the process. "Keeping the pandemic situation in mind, we are trying to increase examination centres to help the students to cut their travel time. Presently, eight to nine districts have state universities under the higher education department. But other districts have autonomous colleges which will be used as centres for the convenience of students. More examination centres will reduce crowd too," he added.

Das said regional directors of education (RDEs) will form teams of observers to oversee entrance test. The state has five RDEs. "We have also asked the controllers of examination to know how they are conducting the examinations," he added.

Sharat Kumar Majhi, controller of examination, Utkal University , said three old universities- Utkal University, Berhampur University and Sambalpur University- will conduct the CPET. "Students will get multiple choice questions and answer 70 questions (one mark each). The rest 30 mark will be awarded on the basis of career marking," he added.

Online common application form (CAF) has been made available in the website www.samsodisha.gov.in from Wednesday. Last date of applying online is August 31 (11.45pm). Students can download hall ticket from the website on September 20 before appearing for the CPET-2020.