HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was hinting for a national level common engineering entrance test from 2013. The idea is to include all engineering colleges under the common entrance test (including IITs and NITs); but for now it looks like only NITs, IITs & IIITs might be included in the first year of the test launch. (via) However the possibility of including other engineering colleges cannot be overlooked according to Sibal, the HRD Minister is set to meet officials from different States to draft a way forward.

The concept of a common engineering entrance test came from T Ramasami committee and was accepted by IIT council & NIT Council; later on IIITs have joined the party. Which means 16 IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), 30 NITs (National Institutes of Technology), 4 IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology), IISERs (Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research) and a few deemed universities have only accepted for a common engineering entrance test so far.

AIEEE is conducted every year by CBSE close to 1200,000 students appear for AIEEE and is Indias most popular engineering entrance exam. JEE is conducted by IITs on rotation basis and is administered for approximately 500,000 students, JEE is termed as the toughest engineering entrance exam in India. Clubbing AIEEE & JEE might need long thinking as these two entrance exams vary in the level of difficulty.

Controversy surrounded when the Government made signals to revamp selection process at IITs on the grounds of declining quality from the students. Few alumni did not like the idea of making any changes to the selection process at IITs and started protest on Facebook. The new version clubbed after AIEEE & IITJEE is yet to have a name, any suggestions?