Single Architecture Entrance Exam Proposal Approved by CoA, Members Object

The new scheme for conducting a single national entrance exam for admissions to all undergraduate architecture programs has been approved by Executive Committee (EC) of the Council of Architecture (CoA). This new decision was taken on 30th May has incited a fresh dispute among the CoA members as two council members object and question the authority of the EC to approve such a draft.

AICTE nominee to the CoA, AR Ramanathan and Habeeb Khan, Maharashtra government’s nominee strongly objected to this proposal, stating that EC’s decision stands invalid on account of not consulting with all seven council members. Ramanthan in his letter states that EC is not authorised to take such policy issues because the EC consists of seven-member body and it is supposed to take important decisions collectively .

He also added that the last Council meeting decision has also pointed this out but the CoA went ahead has created a single day test and this has created a lot of turmoil within the system. In this case, Khan also shows his dissent by stating that architectural admissions should be based on aptitude test instead of a single-day test because from this test the candidate’s ability and aptitude is need to be tested not his memorising skills.

The draft circulated on June 09, consists of regulations regarding National Architecture Entrance Examination 2018. As per R.K Oberoi’s letter, the proposal was approved by EC to upgrade the standards of architectural education. The draft regulations certified that a national level exam conducted by CoA will be made mandatory for candidates wanting admission in all architectural institutes from the academic session 2018-19.

Currently most institutions offer admissions in architectural programmes on the basis of NATA scores. National Aptitude Test for Architecture was earlier conducted multiple times a year by CoA but now is changed to single day format which will be taken in offline mode from this year.

The proposal to withdraw Architects Bill, 2010 from the Rajya Sabha has been approved by the Cabinet. The Bill was in favor of giving more power to Centre over the CoA. This was done to ensure wider deliberation and better reforms are being undertaken by the government.