STUDENTS CAN NOW PURSUE PhD AFTER 4-YEAR UNDERGRAD COURSE

The University Grants Commission has issued a new policy regarding the PhD programme. It says that the students pursueing a 4-Year Undergard course will be eligible for PhD and do not require the masters degree. The eligibility criteria for the same will require the attainment of minimun of 7.5 CGPA for the unreserved category, while a relaxation of 0.5 will be given to the SC/ST/OBC/EWS. The University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of PhD degree) Regulations 2022 are likely to be announced by end of June and set to come into effect from the forthcoming 2022-23 academic session.

Giving a boost to FYUP introduced under the National Education Policy (NEP), the regulations state that “a candidate seeking admission after a 4-year/ 8 semester Bachelor’s degree should have a minimum CGPA of 7.5/10,” while offering a relaxation of 0.5 CGPA score on a scale of 10 for candidates from SC/ ST/ OBC/ differently-abled as well as economically weaker sections.

“Encouraging four-year undergraduate students with a research bent of mind to do PhD is important to improve the research ecosystem in our HEIs. That is why we are permitting four-year UG students who have a CGPA of 7.5/10 or above to be eligible for PhD admission. Those who have a CGPA less than 7.5, will have to do a one-year Master’s degree to be eligible,” said UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar.

As per the new regulations, 40% of the vacant seats can be filled through university-level tests. Two modes of admissions — 100% based on national level entrance tests or 60-40 split based on national level entrance tests and university level or state-level entrance tests have been recommended. If the total vacant seats are filled by the candidates qualifying in the national level entrance tests (conducted by UGC, CSIR, ICMR, ICAR, etc), the selection of such candidates will be based on a merit list with 100% weightage from interview/ viva conducted by the higher education institution.