The University Grants Commission, a statutory body charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education, on Monday said a Common Entrance Test will be mandatory to get admitted to a college under central universities for undergraduate courses, media reports said.

With the new rule, the Class 12 board examination scores will no longer ensure an entry into colleges which fall under the central universities.

“Undergraduate college admissions will hinge on a common entrance test from now, not Class 12 marks, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said.

“This means students may no longer have to take the stress of impossibly high cut-offs for admission – as much as 100 percent,” UGC chief Jagadesh Kumar told NDTV.

The Common Entrance Test or CUET will be conducted in the first week of July when most of the board examinations in the country get completed.

The application process will start via online medium in the first week of April.

The examination will be computer-based.

“Students don’t have to have high proficiency in using computers. Today, almost every student can use a smartphone. They can go to the test centre and use the mouse to choose the answer in the multiple-choice options,” Kumar said as quoted by NDTV.