The National Testing Agency (NTA) is an autonomous body established as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, functioning under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. It was created in November 2017 following Cabinet approval, with the mission to improve equity and quality in education by administering research-based, transparent, and reliable assessments. The NTA was envisioned to solve the problem of multiple government bodies, such as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC), being burdened with conducting high-stakes entrance examinations, thereby professionalizing the process.
The NTA's mechanism involves creating a centralized, specialist organization to conduct entrance and fellowship examinations for higher educational institutions. It is responsible for the entire testing cycle, from test preparation to delivery and marking, and aims to use advanced technology for online examinations. The agency is administered by a Governing Body and led by a Director-General. The NTA connects directly to major national-level entrance exams like the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main), the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), and the Common University Entrance Test (CUET).
A significant recent change is the government's notification of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which aims to ensure integrity and fairness in examinations conducted by designated authorities, including the NTA. Furthermore, following controversies, the government announced that from 2025 onward, the NTA will focus only on entrance exams for higher education and will stop organizing recruitment tests. The agency is also undergoing a high-level review, with a committee recommending reforms to its structure and functioning, including strengthening its in-house capacity and improving data security protocols.