PhD, NET Made Mandatory For University Teachers Recruitment From Academic Year 2021-22

Under a new regulation that will take effect from the academic year 2021-2022, Ph.D. is now required for teacher recruitment at universities, apart from passing the National Eligibility Test (NET). The rule, which was first proposed in 2018, will be executed this year.

The candidates must now hold a Ph.D. in order to be appointed for the position of Assistant Professor.

What Was The Previous Criteria

Previously, only those with a Ph.D. or a NET master's degree were eligible to apply for Assistant Professor positions in universities, which were entry-level positions. Applicants who passed the NET exam were given a weightage of 5 to 10 points for the appointment of Assistant Professors, whereas Ph.D. candidates were given a weightage of 30 points. As a result, people who had just passed the NET tests were penalised.

These new University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations were announced by then-Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in 2018. "Only Ph.D. holders will be recruited for university positions in the future. We have allotted three years. As a result, starting in 2021, assistant professors (entry-level positions) will be required to acquire a Ph.D., according to Javadekar.

Javadekar further added that the goal is to increase higher education quality while also attracting and retaining the top talent in the country. All of the previous regulations' incentives have been preserved, however, the API for college professors has been withdrawn. College professors will no longer be required to conduct research, but will instead be required to focus on providing better education to undergraduate students.