After JEE, UK's Queens University to explore accepting scores of more Indian entrance exams

UK's Queens University,which recently announced inclusion of Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) scores in its admission criteria for engineering programmes, will explore more such entrance exams conducted in India for other courses, according to Vice Chancellor Ian Greer.

"Traditionally UK universities rely on A levels but we do realise that there are different education systems across the world, they need not be necessarily similar but there have to be certain quality thresholds. The key issue is identifying the right quality because we want the people who come here to succeed, Greer told PTI in an interview.

The Queen's University situated in Northern Ireland's Belfast, had last month announced incorporation of JEE scores in the eligibility criteria for admission to its science and technology programmes.

"We observed that the number of students taking JEE is quite high but since the seats are limited in IITs some very good students also miss out on that and end up taking admissions in less credible institutions. We would be happy to have those quality students at our university.

We recognised the quality in JEE and we think that if other similar examinations will offer the similar quality we will be open to them. There are not too may universities in UK using JEE and we think it is a good discriminator. We will be interested in looking at other national exams that India has got because the quality of education in India is very good, he added.

The varsity, which currently has over 200 Indian students enrolled in various programmes, has launched a five-year engagement plan to attract more Indian students.

Partnering with Indian institutions and several outreach programmes are among the planned strategies for the five-year plan.