Road to univ: Chaos, anxiety. Repeat

Time of India

a day ago

New Delhi: It's the same story every year. A centralised admission test that was meant to reform India's higher education system has instead plunged it into repeated cycles of uncertainty.
Since its rollout in 2022, the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) — now mandatory for undergraduate admissions in central universities — has consistently failed to release results on time, throwing academic calendars into disarray, overburdening faculty, and leaving lakhs of students in prolonged limbo.
The delay is not just administrative — it's academic, emotional, and financial. For three consecutive years, universities like Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia have had to compress teaching schedules, overlap semesters and conduct extra classes on weekends, simply to keep up with a calendar that has shifted from July to Aug, then Sept, and sometimes even later.
TOI took a deep dive into how CUET has fared in the past three years.
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A Reform That Went Rogue
When CUET was introduced, it was pitched as a great equaliser — one exam for all, designed to reduce the pressure of sky-high cutoffs and democratise access to top universities. But in practice, it has done the opposite.
Each year, CUET UG results, which must be declared within two weeks of the last time, have been delayed by weeks, sometimes months.
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In 2022, the results were declared on Sept 15, pushing DU's semester start to Nov — about three months later than its expected date in late July. In 2023, results came on July 15, still later than expected, with DU beginning classes only by Aug 16, after a delay of nearly a month. This year, too, the pattern has repeated: the results were released on July 4, nearly four weeks after the exam ended, leaving universities again scrambling to start their session in Aug.
As a result, students who should have begun their university lives in July are stuck waiting, often until the monsoon has passed.
Compressed Learning, Overburdened Faculty
What seems like a few weeks on paper translates to a deeper disruption on the ground. University teaching calendars have been reduced from 16 weeks of classes to 14, with syllabi rushed through, vacations truncated, and crucial academic feedback cycles eliminated.
To compensate for lost time, many departments now run compensatory classes on weekends, sometimes even after official hours. Faculty members juggle two batches simultaneously — in some cases, teaching first-year students in the morning and final-year students in the afternoon. There's little time left for research, mentoring, or even curriculum development.
Pankaj Garg, a faculty member at DU's Rajdhani College, described it as a "perpetual fire-fighting mode".
"I have never had a single semester run on schedule since CUET began. Teachers have not been provided the 15-day winter break for the past three years despite the UGC rules that grants 10 weeks of vacation," he said.
Students Bear the Brunt — and Many Don't Return
The delay doesn't just disrupt teaching. For students, it causes deep anxiety and financial strain. With no clarity on when classes will begin, many opt for private colleges to avoid losing a year.
But these institutes often demand non-refundable deposits — ranging from Rs 50,000 to over Rs 1 lakh — forcing students to block seats while waiting for central university admissions.
While some do shift to DU or JNU once results arrive, many don't. By then, they have already started their semester elsewhere, paid hostel fees, or simply can't afford to lose the money. This results in a quiet but steady loss of potential students for public universities and also leads to a large number of seats going vacant.
Those from marginalised or economically weaker backgrounds are hit hardest. Unlike privileged students who can afford to "keep options open", these students must make irreversible decisions.
"We paid an advance to a private university in Ghaziabad because waiting indefinitely wasn't an option. Later, when my daughter wanted to join DU, we realised we wouldn't get the advance back. We could afford the loss, but what about families who couldn't? The timelines shouldn't have overlapped like this," said a parent whose daughter appeared for CUET this year.
"We finalised admission at a private Pune university.
Things were on schedule there. We couldn't risk losing an entire year," said another parent.
One Exam, Too Many Bottlenecks
At the heart of the problem is the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts CUET alongside NEET and JEE. NTA has struggled with logistical overload, poor communication, and technical glitches — yet faces no formal accountability for repeated delays.
The standard excuse is "volume": CUET UG saw over 13.5 lakh registrations this year. A large number of these applicants take to social media, tagging NTA and the ministry of education to demand clarity and accountability. When contacted, there was no immediate response from NTA.
Delayed UG, Delayed PG, Delayed Careers
The consequences of delays don't stop at UG level. PG admissions, many of which now depend on CUET-PG, are delayed in tandem.
This leads to a domino effect — classes get delayed, as do exams, graduation and entrance to MPhil/PhD.
The Bigger Problem: One Size Doesn't Fit All
Perhaps the most fundamental flaw in CUET is it tries to standardise a highly decentralised system. India's public universities run on vastly different academic calendars, and imposing a single-exam timeline has created permanent misalignment, according to academicians.