The Centre has decided to go ahead with its decision to conduct the Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test (Iseet) from 2013 as had been announced earlier. Andhra Pradesh and several other states had objected to the scrapping the IIT-JEE and AIEEE and replacing them with the single national common entrance test.

This year’s batch will thus be the last batch of students who will take IIT-JEE and AIEEE and Andhra Pradesh will have to abolish Eamcet for engineering admissions from the year 2013. The decision was taken on Wednesday in the States Education Ministers’ Conference convened by the Union ministry of HRD in New Delhi to arrive at a “consensus” regarding holding Iseet, which will also carry a weightage of 40 per cent marks secured in 10+2 exams.

Deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, who also holds the portfolio of Higher Education, had urged the Centre to hold Iseet from 2014 to enable students who had taken admissions in 10+2 courses last academic year (2011-12) to appear for IIT-JEE and AIEEE in 2013 as usual.