There are no plans to conduct an in-house PhD entrance exam, says DU
A cloud of uncertainty has hung over PhD admissions as the UGC-NET exam paper leak controversy prompted the Center to cancel the exam. Delhi University said it has no plans to conduct independent in-house testing.
Delhi University (DU) on Sunday announced that it has no plans to conduct a separate PhD entrance exam and the university is awaiting the University Grants Commission's (UGC) guidance on PhD admissions.
“We have no plans to conduct a separate in-house PhD entrance exam. We will follow whatever the UGC suggests. We have not received any communication from NTA and are awaiting their guidance. “We expect the academic session for PhD to be delayed by a month,” DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh told news agency ANI.
Singh was responding to questions on whether DU is considering an in-house entrance exam for PhD admissions in the wake of the UGC-NET exam controversy, which was canceled by the Center following allegations of paper leaks ahead of the exam.
A cloud of uncertainty has hung over PhD admissions as the UGC-NET exam paper leak controversy prompted the Center to cancel the exam. The UGG-NET exam, which is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), determines eligibility for teaching posts and PhD admissions.
Notably, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is considering scrapping the UGC-NET exam for PhD admissions and reverting to an in-house entrance exam for PhD admissions amid controversy. However, this year, JNU said it has accepted the National Eligibility Test (NET) score instead of conducting its own entrance exam in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Center canceled the UGC-NET exam on June 19 after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) raised concerns about the integrity of the exam.
Earlier, the UGC in a notification dated March 27, 2024 decided that from the academic session 2024-25, the NET score can be used for PhD admissions in place of entrance exams conducted by various universities and higher education institutes (HEIs).
UGC-NET, conducted by NTA in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode from December 2018, determines eligibility for Assistant Professorship and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in Indian universities and colleges. Award of JRF or eligibility for Assistant Professorship depends on overall performance in Paper-I and Paper-II of UGC NET.
(with ANI input)
