As many as 13.99 lakh candidates have applied for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG) for undergraduate admissions this year, marking a 41% increase in comparison to the debut edition held last year, data shared by the University Grants Commission (UGC) said on Tuesday.
The application process for the exam was completed on March 30, and after that, the National Testing Agency (NTA), responsible for conducting the exam, opened a correction window for three days.
The exams will be conducted between May 21 and May 31.
According to the UGC data, a total of 16.85 lakh students registered for the exam this year.
Of them, 13.99 lakh paid the application fee and completed the process, marking an increase of 41% from 2022 when 9.9 lakh students had completed the registration process.
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Besides, the number of participating universities have also increased to 242 this year, from 90 in 2022.
UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that this time the NTA had announced the schedule well in advance, giving sufficient time for the universities and students to be prepared.
“The NTA later also extended the last date for registration from 12 March 2023 to 30 March 2023 keeping in view the interest of students. The significant rise also indicates that CUET-UG is becoming a popular option for admissions in undergraduate programmes this year,” he said.
Continuing with last year’s trend, the maximum number of applicants are from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Delhi and Bihar, Kumar said, adding that the commission is still analyzing the application data from these states.
Similarly, like last year, the maximum number of applications have been received for Delhi University (DU), followed by Banaras Hindu University (BHU), University of Allahabad, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, and Jamia Millia Islamia, the UGC chairperson added.
Highlighting the increase in number of students applying from foreign countries this year, Kumar said, “Last year students from 59 countries submitted their applications for CUET-UG. In 2023, this number increased to 74 countries, with 1,000 students spread across Europe, Asia, America, and Gulf countries having applied for the exam.”
According to UGC data, of the 13.99 lakh students who will sit for CUET-UG in 2023, 6.51 lakh are female while 7.48 lakh are male.
Last year, of the 9.9 lakh applicants, 4.34 lakh were female and 5.56 lakh were male.
“Compared to 2022, this year, the increase in female students is 50% compared to 34% in male students,” Kumar said.
Even as the number of applications has increased across categories, there is a substantial growth in the number of applications from students under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, the data stated.
“The number of applications under the ST category has increased from 58,881 in 2022 to 95,119 this year, indicating a rise of 61.5%,” the UGC said in a statement.
Similarly, the number of applications increased by 35.5% in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, 45.2% in the Other Backward Classes-Non creamy layer (OBC-NCL), and 20.5% in the economically weaker section (EWS) category in comparison to 2022, the data showed.
The UGC data also showed an increase in the number of applications from the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) region from 13,021 last year to 82,655 this year.
Similarly, the number of applications have also increased from the north-eastern region by 31% collectively, the data said.
Among the five southern states, maximum applications have been received from Kerala (56,111), followed by Tamil Nadu (24, 462), the UGC data added.
Meanwhile, Kumar said that the universities are not just using CUET-UG scores for admissions to bachelors courses in humanities, commerce and science disciplines, but also for engineering, law, architecture, and computer applications programmes.