The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet has approved holding the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) through the public sector Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) starting from 2027, ending the current arrangement under a different testing body.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Friday, chaired by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and attended by provincial ministers, the chief secretary, administrative secretaries and other officials.
Briefing the media afterward, Information Minister Shafi Jan said a committee had been constituted to examine the technical and legal aspects of shifting MDCAT to ETEA. The panel is expected to work out the operational framework needed before the agency takes over the test.
The cabinet was told that ETEA currently runs 60 registered Computer Based Testing (CBT) centres across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the rest of the country, with a combined daily testing capacity of 26,000 candidates.
Officials noted that the authority of ETEA to conduct admission tests for professional colleges stems from Section 4(1)(a) of the ETEA Ordinance, 2001. The agency completed its transition to computer-based testing in September 2024 and has since conducted more than 1,300 tests for approximately 500,000 candidates.
The move positions ETEA to take over one of the largest annual admission tests in the province, currently used to determine entry into medical and dental colleges.
The committee’s findings will determine the timeline and procedural details for the 2027 rollout, officials said, adding that further announcements on the transition are expected as preparations proceed.
