Jamia Millia Islamia adds back Kozhikode to list of exam centres

A day after a furore erupted over its decision to remove Thiruvananthapuram from its list of entrance exam centres, Jamia Millia Islamia University has added Kerala's Kozhikode (Calicut) to the list. This now replaces Thiruvananthapuram as the university's only entrance exam centre in south India. Additionally, the university has added two test centres in central India, as reported earlier.

On Friday, the university announced its decision to remove its only test centre in south India, sparking major criticism from students and others on social media. Instead, the university added two test centres in central India. This year, test centres are located in Delhi, Lucknow, Guwahati, Patna, Kolkata, Srinagar, Malegaon, and Bhopal, with the latter two making their debut on the list. Now, Kozhikode has been re-added.

Last year, entrance test centres included Delhi, Lucknow, Guwahati, Patna, Kolkata, Srinagar, and Thiruvananthapuram. Kozhikode was one of Jamia's centres until 2020, after which the centre moved to Thiruvananthapuram from 2021 onward.

In response, Rajya Sabha MP Haris Beeran wrote to the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia on Friday, stating, “I would like to bring to your attention a matter of urgent concern regarding the removal of the Thiruvananthapuram entrance examination centre from the list of multi-city centres for the Jamia Millia Islamia entrance examinations for the academic year 2025-26.”

Beeran added, “For several years, JMI has provided an entrance test centre in Kerala, either in Thiruvananthapuram or Calicut, enabling students from the state to appear for examinations without excessive financial and logistical burdens. However, with the removal of this centre from the prospectus this year, over 2,000 students from Kerala who intended to apply for various programmes at JMI are now left in distress.”

The letter also highlighted that the removal imposes significant challenges, including:

· The need for students to travel to distant centres, incurring substantial costs for travel, accommodation, and food.

· The loss of valuable preparation time, as travel to and from alternative centres could take up to four days.

· The discouragement of aspiring students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, affecting their access to quality education.

Thiruvananthapuram Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also pointed out, “Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) has removed Thiruvananthapuram from its list of entrance test centres. And it was the only such centre in South India! The city witnessed at least 550 students taking the exams. An inexplicable decision: has @jmiu_official decided it doesn’t want South Indian students?”

JMI began conducting entrance exams for undergraduate and postgraduate courses at multiple centres from 2015 onward under vice-chancellor Talat Ahmad. Until 2014, entrance exams for UG and PG courses, except for BTech and Diploma Engineering (Regular) programmes, were held only in Delhi. For engineering courses, the centres were Delhi and Guwahati.

In 2015, JMI entrance exams for UG and PG courses were held in 12 test centres: Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Calicut (Kozhikode, Kerala), Delhi, Guwahati (Assam), Hyderabad (Telangana), Kolkata (West Bengal), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Patna (Bihar), Ranchi (Jharkhand), and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir).

In 2016, the number of exam centres was reduced to seven, but Calicut remained one of them, alongside Lucknow, Delhi, Patna, Guwahati, Srinagar, and Kolkata.

From 2017 to 2020, Calicut was one of the examination test centres, along with others. During that period, Malegaon and Bhopal were not on the list. The centre in Kerala was moved to the capital, Thiruvananthapuram, in 2021, making it more difficult for students from neighbouring states to attend. This year, the centre was removed altogether.

The prospectus mentions that if the number of applicants for a course is 49 or fewer, the test will be held in Delhi. However, according to university sources, last year alone, 350 students appeared for the undergraduate Psychology exam in Kerala, and nearly 200 students wrote exams for other subjects.