Readers may recall that Supreme Court had cancelled the engineering degrees of students who earned them through distance learning from three deemed universities, including JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth in Udaipur, after 2005. These students finally have a ray of hope as they will get to appear for a qualifying exam in June. This decision was taken by AICTE.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is the authority for technical education in the country, has prepared the curriculum for the qualifying exam and the applicants will have to get at least 40 per cent marks in both theory and practical exams to pass the exam. The curriculum has been put on the official website of AICTE.

Students will be tested through objective-type questions, which will include questions from both mathematics and core engineering. An expert team from the AICTE and officials from the Human Resource Development Ministry decided on what should be included in the question paper.

According to officials in the AICTE, those who are unable to clear the June examination will get another chance to write the qualifying exam in December. Those who have not been able to register with the council will also get a chance to register before the December qualifying exam. That exam, however, will be the last chance for the applicants to validate their degree.

Portions of this article appeared first in DNA India