Mumbai:  It has been official confirmed by the CBSE that the next UGC-NET exam will be held in November 2017.  As per normal practices, UGC NET exams are held twice a year: December-January and June-July. However, this year the UGC-NET exam will not be held in July 2017.

As the next NET exam will be held in November 2017, any further test in December 2017 or January 2018  will not possible. Hence, is the UGC-NET exam will be held once a year going forward instead of twice a year?

Each year more than six lakh students apply for the National Eligibility Test (NET). NET exam is used in determining the eligibility for teaching position of Assistant Professor in Indian universities and colleges and also for obtaining JRF for pursuing higher research. Currently, there are a large scale vacancies exit in universities and higher education institutes at teaching levels, almost 30% of sanctioned strength. The exiting biannual NET exam has been helpful in supplying eligible candidates for labour markets as far as higher educational education system is concerned. Any move to restrict its biannual status of the UGC-NET will adversely affect this ecosystem of the higher education system.

The biggest loser will be NET-LS or JRF aspirants or students community. They have almost expressed their concern. Recently online petition, by someone Kawalpreet,  has demanded to restore biannual NET exam. As per media reports (not confirmed by any appropriate authority), the UGC has reportedly decided to reduce the cap of students qualifying for NET to 6%. Till the NET exam conducted in January, 2017, top 15% of the eligible students were issued NET qualification.

The online petition criticized such move by saying that this restrictive 6% cap will deny thousands of students the opportunity of even applying for the post of Assistant Professor. Further, the online petition mentioned that the dual move of scuttling biannual exam and the 6% cap are being implemented in a clandestine way to cut down the number of Junior Research Fellowships. With much less number of students qualifying for NET every year, the number of Junior Research Fellowship will also decrease.

As per the short notice released by the CBSE, which conducts the NET exam on behalf of the UGC, the detailed information on the upcoming November 2017 test will be published post 24 July 2017. From that detailed information, one can guess and more clarity will emerge on the UGC-NET status regarding its biannual  exam.

As per recent media reports, students from different universities staged a protest outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) office against  the scrapping of the National Eligibility Test (NET) in July 2017.