CUET and the Centralisation of College Admissions: Who Really Wins?

This article is part of our series on India’s social and policy developments, where we examine how major reforms shape access and inequality beyond headlines.

Also Read: https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/8043827486611201998/4880970431664533429

When the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was introduced, it was framed as a long-overdue correction to an unfair admissions system. Board marks, we were told, were inconsistent. Cut-offs had become absurd. A single, standardised examination would finally level the playing field.

A few admission cycles later, CUET has undoubtedly changed the rules of the game.
But it has not ended inequality. It has redesigned it.

At first glance, CUET appears reformist and rational—one exam, multiple universities, uniform evaluation. For students from state boards historically disadvantaged by CBSE-centric cut-offs, it promises fairness. For universities, it offers administrative efficiency and insulation from legal disputes. In a country as vast and uneven as India, such centralisation can feel like overdue order.

Yet order and equity are not the same thing.

Why CUET Was Introduced — and What It Fixed

It would be dishonest to dismiss CUET entirely.
The previous board-based admission system had real distortions.

Cut-offs often reflected marking leniency, not preparedness
Universities were forced into defensive gatekeeping
Students competed in a lottery shaped by board reputation

In principle, a common entrance test offers:

Transparency
Predictability
A shared benchmark

For many students from lesser-known boards and regions, CUET has genuinely opened doors that were earlier closed by invisible hierarchies of evaluation.

The problem, therefore, is not the idea of a national entrance test.
It is the assumption that one test can capture merit across disciplines, contexts, and lived realities without constant correction.

The Quiet Eclipse of School Education

One of CUET’s most visible effects has been subtle but profound:
the downgrading of Class XII board education.

What was once the culmination of twelve years of schooling is now treated as a qualifying formality. In many schools, classrooms increasingly resemble waiting rooms for entrance exams.

Teachers report a familiar refrain:

“Will this come in CUET?”

If the answer is no, engagement collapses.

This narrowing of purpose undermines what school education is meant to do—build conceptual foundations, intellectual curiosity, and disciplinary depth. When learning is reduced to test relevance, education becomes instrumental rather than formative.

Coaching Culture: A Problem Repackaged, Not Solved

Ironically, CUET depends heavily on the very ecosystem it was meant to weaken:
the coaching industry.

Standardised tests reward more than knowledge. They reward:

Pattern familiarity
Time-management strategies
Repeated mock practice

These advantages are unevenly distributed.

Urban, middle-class students—armed with paid platforms, stable internet, and professional guidance—adapt quickly. First-generation learners and rural students are told CUET is “NCERT-based”, but NCERT alone rarely compensates for the structural advantages that coaching confers.

What looks like meritocracy on paper often operates as market-mediated access in practice.

Centralisation vs Diversity in Higher Education

CUET also flattens institutional diversity.

India’s universities have historically reflected:

Regional priorities
Language contexts
Social and community needs

Centralised admissions push institutions toward a uniform national template, where contextual criteria are treated as inefficiencies rather than strengths.

In the pursuit of comparability, India risks erasing the pluralism that has long defined its higher-education ecosystem.

The Humanities Problem No One Wants to Address

The tension is sharpest in the humanities.

Disciplines like history, political science, sociology, or philosophy rely on:

Interpretation
Argument
Imagination

Reducing them to multiple-choice questions may be administratively convenient, but it misunderstands how knowledge in these fields is cultivated and assessed.

When merit is defined narrowly, disciplines that resist standardisation are often the first casualties.

Reform or Replacement?

None of this is an argument for returning to inflated cut-offs or pretending that board marks were ever truly equal.

CUET has exposed real flaws in the old system.

But replacing one blunt instrument with another is not reform—it is substitution.

If CUET is to become a gateway rather than a gatekeeper, it must evolve.

What a Fairer CUET System Would Require

A more balanced admissions framework would involve:

Allowing universities to combine CUET scores with board performance, written assessments, or interviews where appropriate
Massive public investment in free, high-quality preparation, especially offline and in regional languages
Recognising that standardisation is not the same as fairness

Education is not a factory process, and students are not uniform inputs.

A just admissions system does more than rank applicants efficiently.
It recognises potential in its many forms.

Until CUET learns to do that, its promise of equity will remain—like many well-intentioned reforms—more aspiration than achievement.

Author Note:

The Common University Entrance Test is still in its early years, and its long-term effects on access, equity, and academic standards are yet to fully unfold. This article reflects an assessment of emerging trends and policy trade-offs. As with any large-scale reform, CUET’s success will depend on continuous review, institutional flexibility, and sustained public investment.

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About the Author

Manish Kumar is an independent education and career writer who focuses on simplifying complex academic, policy, and career-related topics for Indian students.

Through Explain It Clearly, he explores career decision-making, education reform, entrance exams, and emerging opportunities beyond conventional paths—helping students and parents make informed, pressure-free decisions grounded in long-term thinking.

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