New Delhi: The University Grants Commission proposes that those candidates would be eligible for enrolling to a PhD course who have qualified the NET/SLET/SET examinations in the Category III Institutions/Universities. Here, Category of Universities will be one per UGC (Categorization of Universities for Grant of Graded Autonomy) Regulations, 2017. The above 1st amendment to the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of MPhill/PhD Degree Regulations 2017 is under proposal stage, for which the commission has sought public view and comment.
As per the Draft of 1st Amendment of PhD Regulations 2017 uploaded on the UGC website, for Category III universities, in accordance with the new regulations on Graded Autonomy, which is also under proposal stage, candidates will have to qualify NET/SLET/SET examinations for getting admission to admission to PhD degree courses. This new provision in the PhD Regulations will not be applicable to Category II and Category I universities.
Here, it can be clarified that the UGC has also sought public view and feedback on Regulations called the UGC (Categorization of Universities for Grant of Graded Autonomy) Regulations, 2017. Under these, the universities will be classified into three categories based on their National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) score and ranking under National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF): Category I, Category II and Category III.
Further, as per the UGC PhD (1st Amendment) regulation draft document, NET/SLET/SET shall not be required for such programmes where the accredited NET/SLET/SET are not conducted. Further the new changes in the regulation proposal that for the purpose of admission to PhD programmes in a college, the category applicable to the college shall be the same as the category of the University to which it is affiliated.
As per the Draft of the new regulation on Graded Autonomy that has been uploaded on the UGC website, a university will get Category I tag if it has been accredited by NAAC with score of 3.5 or above or if it has achieved a ranking in the top 50 institutions of the NIRF ranking in the category of universities for 2 years continuously.
In the same manner, a university will get Category II tag if it has been accredited by NAAC with score between 3.01 and 3.49 or if it has achieved a ranking from 51 to 100 in the NIRF ranking in the category of universities for 2 years continuously.
The lower graded university will get Category III. A university will fall in Category III if it does not come either under the Category I or Category II.
Before finalization of these regulations, the higher education regulator has sought feedback/comments from general public/stakeholders. The UGC informed that the public can send their feedback/comments on new regulation documents to UGC by email on feedback2ugc@gmail.com on or before 15 June 2017.
