Architecture schools flunk AIEEE, want separate test

Architecture schools flunk AIEEE, want separate test

Unhappy with the quality of students being admit- ted through All India Engineering Entrance Exam- ination (AIEEE), leading archi- tecture education institutes have proposed the setting up of a separate all-India entrance examination to the Ministry of Human Resource and Develo- pment (MHRD).
The proposal was forwarded by School of Planning and Arc- hitecture, Delhi, to the Ministry on behalf of the participating colleges of AIEEE last month.
Currently, some of the most sought after institutes -- includ- ing 15 National Institute of Technology (NITs) and all three branches of School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) -- admit architecture students through the AIEEE conducted by the CBSE.
Now they want a “de-link“ as the exam's technical and intel- ligence orientation is providing them with engineering rejects.
“The AIEEE tests the intel- ligence quotient and not the cre- ative quotient, which is required for architecture. We are losing genuinely talented students to private institutes. The entrance examination has to be re-looked at,“ said Ranjit Mitra, director, SPA, Delhi, which started admitting students through AIEEE about five years ago.
The recommendations were drafted after representatives of several AIEEE participating col- leges (such as SPA, Vijayawada and Bhopal, NIT, Tiruchirapalli) met on March 5 at SPA, Delhi.
The proposed examination, according to the institutes, should be on the lines of, say, Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted by the IIMs which is specifically designed to assess aptitude for a particular disci- pline and also allows institutions to decide on its own cut-off marks and admit students accordingly.
Currently, all architecture students are allotted their col- leges by the Central Counselling Board set up by the Centre to coordinate undergraduate admissions.

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