The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has notified about the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate 2017 on January 31. This year foreign national aspirants need to take NEET, according to Supreme Court orders passed last year. PaGaLGuY provides a list of points that NRI (Non-Resident Indian), OCI (Overseas Citizen of India), POI (Person of Indian origin) and foreign nationals need to keep in mind before applying for NEET 2017.
- Keep your identity proof ready: NEET 2017 notification has made an Aadhaar card mandatory for all Indian nationals (except Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu & Kashmir) to apply for the examination. However, NRI/OCI/PIO aspirants who don’t have Aadhaar cards with them will have to keep their passports ready as identity proof. While filling up the form, aspirants need to provide their passport number and carry the same while taking the examination.
- No NRI quota in medical colleges: Before NEET was regarded as the single entrance examination for selecting candidates in MBBS/BDS courses across the country, there were a certain percentage of seats reserved for NRI candidates. NEET 2017 will not provide any quota to NRI students in any of the medical institutes. NRI/OCI/PIO aspirants will get a chance to compete for the 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats, only after they appear for NEET 2017. Whether there will be any seats reserved in the state quota seats will be decided by the respective state medical authorities at the time of counselling.
- No admission based on board marks: Until last year, the NRI/OCI/PIO candidates got admission based on their scores in standard 12. But after the Supreme Court order making NEET mandatory for admission in MBBS/BDS courses last year, the foreign medical aspirants were left stranded. A sizeable number of students had to surrender their seats midway, as their admission stood cancelled due to the court order. This year, there will be no skipping NEET. Foreign aspirants have to take the examination to be eligible for counselling rounds conducted by MCC (Medical Counselling Committee) and state medical authorities. For foreign aspirants, the biggest concern will be to compete against aspirants from India, due to the difference in study material and syllabus.
- No clarity over admission in deemed universities: Although there is a mention of counselling of private institutes through state medical authorities in the official notification, there still is ambiguity about process of admission for deemed university/institutes. Due to the constant flip-flop of rules and court orders, medical aspirants were kicked out of various deemed universities last year. The petition filed by students is still pending in the Supreme Court, the judgment of which was scheduled on January 30, 2017. With no clarity over the admission process, the counselling procedure, and quota of seats in deemed universities, foreign candidates have to be very careful before taking the exam.
- Selection of cities as examination centre: The notification issued by CBSE has listed 80 cities, where NEET 2017 will take place across the country. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have the most number of cities (6) as test centres. Foreign aspirants must make sure that they make their choice of three test centres wisely while applying. Prior arrangements should be made to avoid trouble at the last moment before taking the examination.