New Delhi: Ending confusion for nearly 5 lakh students, the University Grants Commission Tuesday said it has convinced the Central board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to conduct the entrance test based on which college and university teachers are recruited.

For the first time in 33 years, the national eligibility test (NET) was facing uncertainly after CBSE had written to the human resource development ministry earlier this year expressing its inability to conduct the exam. Qualification in NET is a must for recruitment of teachers at college and universities.

The decision comes even as students groups protested outside the UGC, the higher education regulator, over the last two days regarding the confusion over NET. The NET exam happens twice in every year during December-January and June-July.

“NET will happen in time – at max a week here and there. We have sorted out the issue with CBSE over the NET exam,” V.S. Chauhan, officiating chairman of the UGC said on the sideline of an education event in New Delhi.

Chauhan said CBSE, UGC and HRD ministry had a meeting over the issue and it was pointed out that the previous government had issued an executive order entrusting the CBSE to conduct NET exam. The results also help the UGC in grating junior research fellowships.

CBSE over the last few months had said that due to capacity crunch, it won’t be able to handle a lot of entrance exams. In fact, Budget 2017-18 had a proposal to set up a National Testing Agency to conduct all academic entrance examinations.

In the absence of any national testing body, CBSE conducts major higher education related entrances apart from school leaving exams at Class 10 and Class 12 level for CBSE affiliated schools.

It conducts the Joint Entrance Exam-main (JEE Main) for engineering schools including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and the National Eligibility Test for UGC (UGC-NET) for selecting professors in college and university system.

It also conducts the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) for appointment of teachers across several states. It is also in charge of conducting the single medical entrance test for admission to all MBBS courses.