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- UGC has revised rules for Ph.D and M.Phil admissions and it stated that interview and written test will both have weightages.
- Earlier, written exam for these courses was just a qualifying exam and interview was given 100% weightage but no more.
UGC has rolled back the controversial selection criteria according to which students were selected for Ph.D. and M.Phil courses only on the basis of their performance in the interview. Although an entrance exam is conducted for admission to these postgraduate courses, it just a qualifying test and was not given weightage in the selection process.
Now that the UGC has scrapped 100% weightage of interviews in Ph.D. and M.Phil admissions, the written exam for these courses will also be given weightage. The new rules state that written exam (entrance) will be given 70% weightage and 30% weightage will be given to the interview in order to shortlist candidates for these courses. Check the qualifying marks for different students below.
Category-wise Cut-off for Ph.D. and M.Phill Courses:
Student Category | Written Test Cut-off |
|---|---|
General Candidates | 50% marks |
OBC Candidates | 45% marks |
SC and ST Candidates | 45% marks |
Other reserved category students | 45% marks |
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In 2016, the UGC had laid down new selection process for admission to M.Phil and Ph.D. These rules had barred universities in India from offering Ph.D. programmes in distance mode. Entrance exams for these courses were made mandatory for admission and candidates were required to score at least 50% marks in the exam in order to qualify for the interview. However, the exam was not given any weightage.
This disturbed the selection criteria at universities as all of them were not following the same pattern. Some universities were giving weightage to both written test and interview, while others were just relying on interviews.
A lot of students protested against the only interview criteria saying that the reserved category students will be at a disadvantage due to this as their communication skills are not as good. The worst protests were witnessed at the JNU campus.
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The UGC had also put restrictions on the number of Ph.D. scholars that a professor can guide. Now, a professor can mentor no more than 3 M.Phil and 8 Ph.D. scholars, 2 M.Phil and 6 Ph.D. scholars under an associate professor and 1 M.Phil and 4 Ph.D. scholars under an assistant professor. JNU has to reduce its intake in both the courses as it had already exceeded the limit.
