Intellects Abode (IA)

Where everyone gets content of one's interest - health, education, career......

UGC Regulations - Ph.D./M.Phil

UGC regulations notified for setting M.Phil and Ph.D. standards appeared on one hands to be appropriate for maintaining standards across the colleges and universities but created furor amongst the job seekers and those who were already in job and pursuing higher education. After lot of deliberations apex body approved new regulations to make criteria uniform throughout the country by setting some new standards for all the aspirants and institutions. UGC through its regulation 2009 published in the “The Gazette of India” on July 11, 2009, has set the minimum standards for admission procedure, allocation of M. Phil and Ph.D. students to the supervisor and minimum number of students admitted to these programs etc.

Salients features are listed below.

M. Phil and Ph. D. programs cannot be conducted by any UGC affiliated institution through distance education mode.
Universities/institution will decide the criteria for the faculty to act as an supervisor, predetermine the number of students to be admitted for admission to M.Phil and Ph.D. every year and conduct admission tests on regular basis.
These institutes/universities will have to publish the number of seats in the advertisements or on university websites.
As per the new regulation, a supervisor can have only eight Ph.D. and five M. Phil. Students at any point of time.

An entrance test followed by an interview has to be conducted at individual university/institution for admission to these courses.
Separate terms and conditions may be decided by the individual institutions for candidates who have qualified UGC/CSIR(JRF)/SLET/teacher fellowship/GATE or have passed entrance tests for M.Phil/Ph.D.
In the interview, candidates may discuss their research interests. The allocation of supervisor will be done in a formal manner by the department based on the research interests of student, specialization of the faculty and in no case will be left to the student or teacher to decide on their own choice.
All the admitted students have to undergo the course work of minimum one semester duration related to methodology of research work or review of literature. However, the course work may be carried out either within the institution or outside of it.
Institutes may also decide the minimum qualifying requirements for doctoral students to proceed further before writing the dissertation.
Each student has to make a presentation in the department before submission of the thesis and incorporate all the suggestions in consultation with supervisor.
Each student has to publish one research paper in a referred journal before submission of the thesis.
Thesis so submitted will be evaluated by two examiners. Of these two experts, at least one shall be from outside the state.
Institute or university, if interested, may have one examiner from outside the country.
Students have to defend their thesis openly after receiving satisfactory reports from the examiners.
Once the degree is awarded, concerned institute shall submit a soft copy of the M.Phil/Ph. D. thesis to the UGC within thirty days of the award.
UGC will make the thesis available to all institutions by hosting the same in INFLIBNET.

Controversial points

Either National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) was made mandatory to clear for M.Phil/Ph.D. holders to become eligible for appointment as college or university teacher.However, Ph.D. holders who had obtained their doctorate under tough quality standards or employed were exempted from clearing NET/SLET. Those who were pursuing Ph.D. deviating from the minimum standards of the UGC need to qualify the eligibility test.

Current Status: As per the reliable sources, NET is likely to be dispensed with for all Ph.D. holders irrespective of quality of their degree.

0 members like this

Comment by crusador, CEO (PROFEXION) on June 14, 2011 at 7:57am: Annual demand of new recruits in Indian education system is approx. 50000 whereas no. of NET qualifies is about 15000 per year.

Comment by Dr. Kanagaraj Easwaran on June 27, 2011 at 12:27pm: Dear Crusader,

Please remember the fact that there are a large number of unemployed NET Qualified candidates. Hence, compromising on the quality of Ph.D is not called for. In my opinion, the Ph.D/M.Phil regulations of the UGC are minimalist. It is not difficult to satisfy the UGC norms in this case. To improve the quality of the research the UGC has to formulate eligibility criteria for research guideship.

Comment by crusador, CEO (PROFEXION) on June 27, 2011 at 1:00pm: Dear Dr Kanagaraj, it's true that there are unemployed net qualified candidates. If figures of vacancies are to be believed then these candidates could have been employed as NET is conducted by the UGC and quality of the test can not be questioned. It is my firm belief that NEt qualification is more worth than Ph.D. It tests the real potential of the candidate. Ph.D. obtained following UGC regulations will definitely be worth NET exemption but same can not be true for earlier cases.These are individual opinions and do not count much except for the sake of discussion or opinion building.

Comment by Dr. Kanagaraj Easwaran on June 27, 2011 at 1:20pm: Dear Crusader,

Thanks for your comment.

I think that you are insisting that those who have completed Ph.D earlier need to be exempted from NET. I accept that and even feet that those who have registered for Ph.D before the UGC notification should also be exempted from qualifying NET. And also fulfilling the new PhD norms of UGC.

In a democracy like ours, public opinion matters. Some times central ministers like Sri Kapil Sibal discount the role of civil society. It depends how united we are in our opinion and how assertive we are. But with regard to UGCs new regulation I feel we are failed to make any difference.

Comment by crusador, CEO (PROFEXION) on June 27, 2011 at 1:34pm: Dear Dr Kanagaraj, government commits blunder by ignoring public opinion. History shows that whenever our political bosses tried to ignore public opinion they faced the consequences. In case of UGC's new regulation, decision of apex body is likely to be changed/modified very soon depending on public opinion. Best example of influence of public opinion on Govt. decision is grant of Pay Band IV to college & university teachers in old pay scale of Rs 12000-18300. Earlier these teachers were recommended PB 3 by the Chaddha Committee. Similar example is improvement of pay scales of IIT/IIM teachers

Comment by Lalramlianchhunga on August 13, 2011 at 7:51am: The UGC and MHRD should infact implement a rule that the minimum qualification for Assist. Prof at the PG level should be PhD and subsequent experiences after PhD should be kept more important as the criteria for recruitment process. The possibility of a master teaching a master course is absurd!! completely unacceptable from the international point of view.

Comment by Dr. Kanagaraj Easwaran on August 15, 2011 at 2:22pm: Dear Pu Chchunga, Your suggestion is technically correct. But practically it is not practically feasible. The universities may not get adequate no of applications. The better option is giving preference or weightage to the scholars with Ph.D in recruitment. Very unfortunately, there is no concession for those who did Ph.D in recruitment of associate professor and professors. It normally takes five years to get ph.d in social science disciplines.

Comment by Lalramlianchhunga on September 4, 2011 at 5:01pm: Hi, Dr.Easwaran, Its practical and has been used all over the globe. Net in fact is detrimental, according to very reliable scientific magazine, the contribution from Indian scientific community to the global scientific knowledge during 2009 is 3 %. Lets assume 90 % of this is from IITs, NITs, IISc etc,. This is shame for Universities. Why? Think! You will find the reason! The mentality of the UGC and MHRD is weird! they are doing nothing to push India to the next level!

Comment