News Highlight
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has changed its latest regulations governing the award of PhDs.
Key Takeaway
- The changes have been made through the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of PhD Degree) Regulations, 2022.
Key changes
- Eligibility criteria
- The eligibility criteria for admissions have been changed.
- Anyone with a Bachelor’s programme degree with a minimum of 75% marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade will be eligible for doing a PhD.
- Research papers
- The UGC has scrapped the mandatory requirement of getting research papers published in peer-reviewed journals before the final submission of a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis.
- Earlier, it was mandatory for M Phil scholars to publish at least one research paper in a conference or seminar and for PhD scholars to publish at least one research paper in a refereed journal and make two paper presentations in conferences or seminars before the submission of their thesis for adjudication.
- Doctoral candidates
- The UGC has dropped its plan to make universities and colleges reserve at least 60% of their annual intake of doctoral candidates for NET or JRF-qualified students.
- Part-time PhDs
- The UGC has retained the provision of part-time PhDs primarily targeted at working professionals aspiring to obtain doctoral degrees. IITs already allow such programmes.
- Research Advisory Committee
- To ensure the quality of their output, earlier, research scholars had to appear before a Research Advisory Committee once in six months and present the progress of their work for evaluation and further guidance. They will now have to do so each semester now.
University Grants Commission (UGC)
- About
- University Grants Commission is a statutory body under the University Grants Commission Act of 1956.
- Duties
- UGC is charged with the task of coordinating and maintaining standards of higher education in India.
- It provides recognition to universities and also allocates funds to universities and colleges.
- UGC also conducts the National Eligibility Test (NET) for the appointments of teachers in colleges and universities.
- Headquarters
- UGC headquarters are in New Delhi and have six regional centres.
- National Institutional Ranking Framework
- In 2015-16, the Union government initiated a National Institutional Ranking Framework under UGC to rank all educational institutes.
- Composition
- The Commission shall consist of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, and ten other members, to be appointed by the Central Government.
- Tenure
- Chairman: 5 years or until he attains age 65, whichever is earlier.
- Vice-Chairman: 3 years or until he attains age 65, whichever is earlier.
- Other members: 3 years.
Content Source: The Hindu