engineering institutes may finally be cleared. Directors of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) that Business Standard spoke to said that by the end of February 2012, there may be a consensus on whether to hold a single entrance examination in 2013 and thereon.

Come February, and the cloud over the issue of conducting a single entrance examination for admissions to engineering institutes may finally be cleared. Directors of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) that Business Standard spoke to said that by the end of February 2012, there may be a consensus on whether to hold a single entrance examination in 2013 and thereon.

The Joint EntranceExamination (JEE) held for admissions to the IITs and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) for admission to Centrally-funded technical institutes may be merged to create a single entrance test.

"Directors of the IITs, NITs, IIITs and Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) have been asked to give their feedback. A formal notification on this will be issued next month. Mostly, we are all on the same page," said an IIT director on the condition of anonymity.

In September 2011, the IIT council had accepted the recommendations of the T Ramaswami committee report on JEE reforms and proposed a single entrance test for all engineering colleges, including IITs, NITs and other engineering institutions.

Key reforms that the committee was looking at include reduction in the number of examinations