New Delhi: Taking another step on its proposal to introduce a common entrance test for engineering courses, the government on Wednesday held talks with state education ministers and said that they had "in principle" agreed to bringing in the new format.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with state education ministers, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said the states "in principle" agreed to the proposal.

"After detailed deliberations, the proposal for a common national examination with effect from 2013 with weightage to state board results, normalized on the basis of percentiles formula, was endorsed in principle by States," Sibal said.

Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Puducherry and West Bengal sought more time to study the details of the proposal, he said.

The ministry, making a presentation on the proposal, said the reform would not, in any way, affect reservations followed by states and the central government.

Sibal also called upon the states to cooperate in introduction of the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework to qualitatively upgrade vocational education across the country.

The ministry also announced starting 100 community colleges on a pilot basis in 2012-13 and then scaling them up gradually. IANS